Another backyard Black-capped Chickadee shot trying to take advantage of all the brilliant sugar maples in peak autumn colour.
Is the background too overpowering? This is basically straight out of the camera (with a slight crop and curves adjustment) in warm late afternoon / early evening light.
The background colors are very pleasing and to me do not overpower the Chickadee. I love everything about this image especially the detail and the head turn.
The background does not work for me as my eye has trouble finding a central focus point. My eye goes to the brightest point and that unfortunately is not the bird.
I agree with Scott here. The colors in the background are great,very seasonal, the brightness there overpowers the bird for me. Tone it down a bit perhaps, and I think the balance between bird and BG would be more favorable for the bird!
The bird itself is very nice, well exposed and sharp. I might try to sharpen up the foot, which is a nice pose but not quite sharp enough.
I love the pose and ha of the bird, and very nicely exposed. The fall foliage works nicely with the black and white Chickadee and its buffy flanks; but it does draw attention away from the bird. A bit of desaturation would help, IMHO (I usually find that reds and yellows in the sun, straight out of the camera, need a little desat.) Maybe just a little too centered; might move just a tad to the right. Lots to work with here for a spectacular image.
Thanks for the feedback. I had the same thoughts about the "vivid-ness" of the background overshadowing the bird - here is a repost with a toned down background. Desaturating any further just looks unnatural. The foot is a bit of a problem - I can only guess that it was in motion when the image was taken, because it seems to be more than just being out of the plane of focus (as the middle toe is much more blurred than those on either side) - I've done my best here to sharpen it up a bit.
Sugar Maple Chickadee
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
