Adolescent Cedar Waxwing

[Jeff Dyck]

My first image post...

I photographed this young Cedar Waxwing last week along the Wabigoon River in Dryden, Ontario on a drizzling, gloomy day.

I got a bit of eye-shine from the fill flash - should this be left as-is / brightened and balanced so the iris is more visible / darkened for more of a glossy black eye?

The square-ish crop was to remove some distracting background elements. Should I look at cleaning up some of the background elements still in the photo? I like the "weight" the leaves add to the composition, but I am not sure about the out of focus branch under the tail.

All feedback welcome is welcome.

Edit: some shooting information:
5DmarkII -- 400L / f5.6 -- ISO1600 -- f6.3 @ 1/200s -- -1/3 EV -- flash @ -1 2/3 EV

[Lance Peters]

Hi Jeff - Big warm welcome to BPN - Do not hesitate to jump right in and leave comments on other peoples image - no better or faster way to improve your own skills. All we ask is that you say what it is you like or dont like about the image.
Nice first post.
Lots to like here - sharp as a tack - BG looks Good - Exposure and Flash use look good.
Not so sure about the head Angle ;) looks like it is angled away from us a little - there is a wealth of info here about Head Angles - Have a look through Artie's thread here in ETL - you will learn a lot!
Yes I would fix the eye (See Arties Digital Basics ) - Feels a little tight on the top for my tastes - crop doesnt quite work in this squareish type format - IMHO!!

Looking forward to seeing more :)

[Julie Kenward]

Jeff, the bird is beautiful! You really got a nice exposure and good details throughout his body. He is slightly tilted away from us so it's not ideal but its still a lovely image. I'd also take some off the right side to make it more of a vertical crop because the bird/branch/leaves are so vertical that it just feels like it should be a vertical image to me.

As for the eye, definitely leave the catch light. If it bothers you at all take a sample of the area next to the light and then use the brush tool set to 10-25% opacity and brush over the bright white to tone it down a little. I think you have plenty of detail in the pupil as is - I'd leave well enough alone!

[Jeff Dyck]

Yes I would fix the eye (See Arties Digital Basics )

Thanks Lance.

Pardon my ignorance, but where does one find "Arties Digital Basics"?

Regards,
Jeff

[John Hawkins]

I like the colors,nice and sharp and good dtail in the feathers. Head angle off just a hair. I might of tried to remove the oof leaves and branches. Keep them coming

[John Chardine]

Jeff- If you get that "steel-eye" look from flash I would definitely remove it. Also I personally remove flash catch lights because they rarely if ever occur in a believable place on the eye itself, in relation to where the light is coming from etc. If the sun is low and behind you you can sometimes get a flash and sun catchlight at the same time, and again I would remove the flash catchlight because in our solar system we have just one sun!

PS you can also get two catchlights if the sun is low and you get a sun reflection in the water as well. Of course I would leave these because it's real.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Very nice first post, love the sharpness, details and exposure. Nice use of flash on the bird, I would try to tone done the catch light but not remove it. The branch at the tail and the one coming from the leaves that goes into the body distract a bit, however I do like the leaves. The idea about more vertical crop sounds good to, might want to give that a try.

[Peter Farrell]

Very nice. Bird is tack sharp, nice perch and BG. I like the catchlight in the eye. Angle of the bird also looks fine to me.
Peter

[Jeff Dyck]

Thanks for the feedback. Here's a re-crop and some correction of the eye-shine and branch under the tail.

Better? Is the shot cropped too tight on the left?

[John Chardine]

Well done Jeff. I like the repost.

[Julie Kenward]

I do as well. Now the bird really stands out inside the frame!