Mourning Dove Preening

[Steve Deam]

I couldn't resist cropping this one really tight... The bird was standing on a vinyl fence post, plus I rotated the image, which is why I chose to crop out the legs and feet. Critique is much appreciated.



Canon 7D / Canon 600MM
ISO 400
1/4000 @ f4
Output directly out of LR 3B2

[Lance Peters]

Hi Steve - lovely details - exposure looks good and BG is good, Does look kinda funny without the legs - might crop even tighter -- think it could make the image stronger.
Keep em coming :)

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with Lance on going tighter since the legs are not there .. would also be nice to have the eye open !! Image has a good feel, I like it !!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Steve, IMO the light,detail and backround are the images strongpoints. Missing the legs is an issue for me in this case and I played with some crops and can't find one I really like. Possibly if the eye was open it would have given me more of an area to target...

[Steve Deam]

Thanks for the critique... Here is a repost with a slight tweak to the crop.



I agree it would be stronger with the eye open. Unfortunately, the only time the eyes were open is when the head was up, and I didn't like the lines of the neck in those shots. On the other hand, I do think that the eye closed is the bird's natural behavior when preening this area, and it might not look natural with the eye open.

One of the things that helps the image for me is the touch of blue against the mostly brown tones.

I'm new at this and your comments are very valuable to me.

Thanks again.

[Mark Young]

The repost is an improvement. The exposure looks good, lots of nice detail and colour in the bird. The bg looks great, though it's a touch grainy.