I wish I had a deeper depth of field when I snapped this photo, it did not give me a second chance. Still to me it makes me feel like he/she is about to leap off the page. I do not know the bird, shot it in Costa Rica.
Any feedback welcome
ISO 400, 150mm, f5.0 1/500. Lightroom minimal, toned down the orange saturation, added vignette.
I don’t really know avian photography but I like the shot. I think the depth of field really focuses you on the bird. I like the way you’ve composed it to the left, can feel the bird waiting to take off into the green.
You nailed the head. I like the sense of impending action. I could see a bit more room on the bottom and right for the bird to move into.
I like the impending sense of motion for this image. That works nicely.
I don’t know how much room you have in the original frame but this feels very tight in the frame. I’d wish for more room, especially on the left, right and bottom. I’d also look at toning down the bright part of the stick at the top.
PS. Your embedded color profile is Adobe RGB and it should be sRGB for web viewing to insure that viewers see accurate colors from your original file.
My best guess is Silver Throated Tanager. And that is based on what I can see. It is fairly common in Costa Rica. Nice job on the effective composition.
Hi Christopher,
The DOF actually really attracts me to this photo. I think it gives it a different look and therefore draws different emotions.
To me by focusing on the head, and letting the rest of the body drift out of focus, my thoughts are pulled more to what’s going on in its head - what is it looking at, where is it going, what is it thinking?
Thank you Keith, initially I cropped it so its eye was at the bottom third intersection, I did have a little more room on the bottom and to the right and I re-cropped as you suggested and I do like the extra space for my imagination.
Thanks Daniel, I think I am being swayed that the shallow depth of field just works for this image, thanks for the comments!
