American Goldfinch

[Eric Patdu]

I'm not sure about the cropping but I wanted to include the out of focus leaves at the right and minimize the bright spots on the left.

I tried cloning / removing the bright spot on the left but ended up with an ugly photo so I decided to just leave it as it is.


American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
Shooting Info: Canon XSi, EF 300mm f/4L IS + EF 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO 800, +2/3 EV, hand-held

[jack williamson]

Eric I like the bird and the perch. It looks pretty good for HH at 1/100. The image may be a bit too sharp. I would definately try to tone down the bright spots in the BG.

Jack

[Kerry Perkins]

Eric, you have a good thing going here except for the background. I would completely clone out those areas of sky and make the entire bg green. It would look super with this little goldfinch. I don't think the oof leaves on the right add anything to the image, as the sharp perch area is pretty far removed in the frame. I would try cropping this as a vertical and eliminate the right half altogether. I know that is contrary to your idea for the image, but I think it would work better. Let's see what others say, I may be totally out to lunch... Love the little finch, nice exposure and color rendition! Good to see the eye so well.

[Gordon McKechnie]

I like the bird & pose. Agree with Kerry's suggestion for a vertical crop excluding the leaves on right, and cloning out sky. In an ideal world I think the camera angle could have been more straight on the bird, as this feels like I'm looking up at it a bit too much. Exposure looks great.

[Rachel Hollander]

Eric - nice sharpness and color. I agree with Kerry's suggestions too.

TFS,
Rachel

[Eric Patdu]

Thank you all for the comments. Cropping this vertically also came to mind but I'm so bad at cloning that when I tried it the BG looked patchy. I think I have to practice more on that.

[Kerry Perkins]

Eric, using a soft brush at 80% and sampling from different areas to avoid repeating patterns are two things that might help your cloning. When you use the cloning tool at 80% opacity, you have to click twice over areas that you want to be 100% cloned but it gives you the ability to do some softer cloning as well.

[Eric Patdu]

Thanks for the tip Kerry. I'll practice on that.