The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I like the somewhat quizzical look he’s giving me. I used a high shutter speed as he was in almost constant motion, and hence a high ISO. Also, the setting was much darker than it might seem from the image. Noise Reduction did a good job, but still may be a bit crunchy in places.
Specific Feedback
Any thoughts appreciated.
Technical Details
Canon R5; 100-500 with 1.4 TC at 700 mm; 1/3200 at f10, +2/3 EV, ISO 20,000
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Let me prefix this by saying I am an amateur and just joined, but if I want to get constructive feedback on my images I need to do the same for others, so i am trying to learn to do so. I really like all the detail in the feathers and his face, I like his head tilt and how sharp his eye is. I also really like the nice soft blurred out background, and the yellow background goes really nicely with the yellow in the birds coloring. Ideally I would like to see a little more depth of field - the focus falls off on his tail feathers - but maybe you would not have been able to achieve the nice soft background if you had done that. I wonder about darkening the upper left and lower right corners of the background a bit? Overall I think he is beautiful.
Hi Elizabeth. Thanks for your comments. Darkening those areas is a good idea. The OOF tail might be due to movement-he was flitting among the brush and really wouldn’t stay still for long. I applaud your approach to NPN. I know I learned a lot about what I liked in a bird photo by critiquing others.
A beautiful image of this bird, Allen. You must have been very close because as @elizabeth noted, the depth of field is quite shallow even at f/10. When shooting small birds I can understand why you might be at 1/3200, though I probably wouldn’t go that high unless I thought i could catch a take-off shot (and my reflexes are too slow for that most of the time). Noise reduction is outstanding for iso 20,000-I’m curious as to which software you used for that. I could see bringing the brighter parts of the background down as Elizabeth suggested, though they don’t bother me much since they’re pretty symmetrical around the bird.
I like the pose. Nice Head turn, then good detail in the plumage. There are some distracting bright areas in the background but I’m not sure how you can change that. I also would have liked to it seem a little more light on the black plumage bring out the detail. Note that the bird that I have never seen in Puget Sound area.
Redstarts are tough to get as they are as hyper as a small bird can get. You may want to tame down the BG a tad and it will improve the comp. Subject looks fine and inquisitive…Jim
Hi Dennis, I finally broke down and purchased DxO. I used their trial offer first and was impressed that the images had excellent noise reduction, but there was also some sharpening that gave the image a nicer look than the NR in LR. One thing I did notice with DxO was that the colors seemed a bit muted compared to the original file.
A bird I’ve never seen so I can’t comment on it, but the areas in focus look good and the darks have nice detail. For my taste, the brightest areas in the BG could be brought down quite a lot. Compositionally there is room for some cropping from the top, which will help a little. But at high ISOs there is a significant penalty in dynamic range, so you may be limited. Have you tried comparing LR for Highlight and Shadow balancing? Noise is easier to deal with than motion blur so I can understand the need for a high SS, but I rely on burst mode (20 fps on electronic shutter) and can usually find one in a burst where the bird was reasonably still. At 1000mm in soft foggy light I rarely need to go above ISO 1600 and 1/250 sec, but that’s on a sturdy tripod with a fluid-damped gimbal head, so only one of us is moving.
I know that lens well and wonder about the appearance on the left foot and that part of the branch, and also at the focus dropoff on the lower breast. Something doesn’t look right in those areas, even if it’s a shoothrough.
You have a very nice catch here – just questioning what looks like processing.
I can’t even begin to clap my hands enough for this capture. I hear these guys more than see them (they nest in the yard), but OMG are they flitty and fast. Can’t even see them with my eyeballs for long, much less get a lens pointed at one. Plus they love tangled branches and undergrowth. Bravo!
