I'm starting this thread by saying that during my short membership time here I have learnt one thing; Taking photos as a birder is a totally different thing than taking photos as a bird photographer. :o
That said it's time to try something different. I was sturggling with the compose on this one. And I'm not a big fan of this either. I tried different aspect ratios but none of them really pleased my eye. I have some room in each side. Where would you but the bird in this case?
Little self critic first; Light is coming from the side so it's not the best possible. DOF could have also been better. Those and the fact that I think the crop is too tight.
Hi Mikko - agree with your self critique - sometimes you can get away with one issue but when you start stacking them up they tend to compound and make things worse.
Quite like the pose - but mixed light is always difficult - best to try and get that sun at your back before you start.
Techs look solid - comp is too tight as mentioned.
Keep em coming :)
Mikko, I think you are a little hard on yourself. I like the DOF and the head is nice and sharp. The lighting is not optimum but a little work in PS selectively lightening up the shaded side might help it a lot. On the crop, the only thing I would say is it looks a little tight on the LHS.
I agree with you totally about taking photos as a birder and as a bird photographer but over the last year or so I have tried to bring them both together. One of the hardest things to do when photographing birds, according to Artie, is not to take the photograph. If it is not right, improve it before taking the photo. I find it so difficult to keep to it but I am getting better at it.
I would agree that lighting is the biggest challenge on this one, you managed to capture a good pose and head angle, your point of focus looks to be on the eye/head so maybe it's worth some time to try to dodge or lighten the head a little to see what you get.
Other than my clumsy attempt to move a piece of pipe from the lower left corner with the air brush, would this composition work better or do I now have too much room on the right side?
Marsh Wren
