The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Captured this male Eastern Bluebird at our local park. The town added several bluebird boxes this year, and the birds seem to be enjoying the housing options very much. As it’s a park setting, the birds have seen a lot of people and allow you to get fairly close to photograph. In terms of what I like about the photo–it’s kind of a unique angle facing away but still nice view of the eye. I also really like that the tail is partial in the house still.
Specific Feedback
I am curious about people’s reaction to the crop. I have a tendency to crop to tight. So thoughts on that would be appreciated. Thanks so much for any feedback.
Technical Details
Taken with a Canon R7 and the RF 100-400mm F5.6 - 8 lens at 400 mm. 1/800sec. at f8, ISO 100. Edited in Lightroom.
Critique Template
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I think we are all tempted to crop tightly, to show the subject as large as possible, but that isn’t always ideal. It took me a long time to not zoom in tightly and crop rather severely.
In this case, I believe the crop is a little tight. More room on all sides might be better, and will not affect the great pose, bright eye,or sharp detail.
I love the tail in the nesting box opening!
Hi Skip. welcome! I like the pose of the bird with the upright tail in the box as you mention. Enjoy seeing the eye so well even the pupil. Agree adding more room in front would help. Exposing correctly for the darker feathers on the bird meant the box came out very bright. I’m wondering what reducing highlights would do there or perhaps a selective darkening of the box. A fine background. Nice catch.
Welcome Skip. I agree with the others on the crop. More room, particularly in front of the bird would be very nice. If they still have youngsters in the box and the park lets you in early in the morning, the light will be better and you can probably get the box toned down more easily (assuming the direction of the light doesn’t screw things up).
By the way, it looks like you leveled the image on the horizontal perch and let the vertical line of the front of the box go skewed. The way perspective works, unless you’re looking at a tall building or tree, vertical lines stay pretty vertical and it’s horizontal lines that get easily skewed, so most of the time, it looks more realistic if you straighten on vertical lines.
This is an excellent first post and I’m really looking forward to seeing more of your work and reading your comments on other people’s posts.
Thanks for your kind words. Interesting about the leveling. I suppose I naturally look toward the horizontal line, but now that you mention it I can’t see anything but the skewed box. I will straighten that up when I make the edits mentioned above. Thanks again (to everyone) for the quick feedback and great suggestions.
