Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
In winter I usually help the birds a bit with their daily meal. As a compensation some of them keep the number of caterpillars and lice in my vegetable garden under control, in summer.
The blue and great tits have a strong preference for sunflower seeds and for nuts, like this walnut. They don’t see the table where I put the cracked nuts as a safe place, as they transport them asap. This blue tit eats a piece first, a few seconds later it was carried away with one leg by a great tit.
Specific Feedback
All comments are welcome.
Technical Details
Pentax K3 Mk. III, Pentax 150-450 @450mm, f/6.3, ISO1600, 1/640s. Tripod.
RAW conversion in DxO PL6, little curve correction, BG blurred a bit because it was distracting.
1 Like
Hi Han. Somehow you managed to post this without assigning it to a forum. It could go into either Avian or Everything Else. Given the obvious “hand of man” provided by the table, my inclination is to put it in Everything Else and I’ll do so to start with. If you want it in Avian, I can move it again later.
It’s a very engaging image, with wonderful detail in the bird and the nut and a beautifully blurred background with just enough variation to give it some character. A very good image.
Thank you @Dennis_Plank for your kind comments.
I did assign a category to the image, no idea why it disappeared. But you corrected it already and I agree to keep it here, this was my idea as well.
What a cute little bird, with very nice tonalities and sharpness and detail! (You have much prettier birds over there than we do in the US, at least on the west coast.) I love the pose with the walnut and the table is an attractive perch with lovely soft color and a very pleasing hint of light. For me, the BG is still a distraction – I wonder if it could be blurred more? I often have better results with a lot of ~50% opacity cloning than with blurring.
Even if the blur looks good, I’d be inclined to crop quite a bit off the top to place the bird in the center vertically. That makes an unusual aspect ratio, but I really like the table and would hate to crop from the right.
I hope to see more of your gorgeous birds!
1 Like
Thank you @Diane_Miller for your comment!
I’ll try your technique of cloning with moderate opacity to smoothen the BG.
