Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Waiting its turn at a nearby feeder.
Is the image too dark?
Canon R5; 100-500 with 1.4 Tx at 700 mm; 1/1000 at f10, -1 1/3 EV; ISO 2000
The Grosbeak looks fine, Allen and I don’t mind the dark green background_I have plenty of those in my files. The perch is a bit massive and the sawed off stubs are rather obtrusive. Not much you can do about that, but if it’s your feeder, I’d try to find some smaller perches. If it’s someone else’s you might talk to them and see if they’ll let you find more photogenic perches for them. Though I’ll admit that when I put up small perches the Band-tailed Pigeons love to break them off.
The bird looks good but the BG feels dark (could have been in shade, of course). The perch also feels dark, but it is also shaded. Maybe the sort of image where you need to fake the lighting a bit. Workflow? I think if you balanced Highlights, Shadows and Exposure in LR/ACR (if you use them, or the equivalent in other software) that you might get more exposure with less contrast and still pleasing tonalities. But that of course depends on the raw file. There is always the option to select the bird, inverse it and work on the rest.
Hi Allen, since the bird is well lit, I’m okay with the darker yet visible background. The perch could be better if it was a bit smaller and without the broken off parts. Details look nice on this very attractive subject.
Thinner perch would work better and I have a feeling you will be visited by this guy again. The bid does stand out from the BG so I feel that the dark BG is OK. Smaller perch and softer lighting will certainly make for a stronger composition. Otherwise, the grosbeak looks pretty good and would have better color saturation in softer, bright light. Well done as this is a challenging shot…Jim
