Common Male House Finch

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

55Z7__1736-Enhanced-NR3-npn.jpg
55Z7__1736-Enhanced-NR3-npn.jpg2298×1783 831 KB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

This just might be my very first post in Avian! Maybe I posted back in the NPN 1.0 days, but certainly my first here in NPN 2.0.

Recently I been reaquainting myself with my new Nikon Z cameras after just getting them last year. Those familiar with the Nikon line will know about the “user modes”; where I’ve set up: Landscape, Handheld, ICM, and Astro as the modes I’ve configured. With the handheld/action I have Auto-ISO in Shutter PRiority mode and also using 3D tracking. Just literally playing around in the backyard. I nailed a little branch to the side of our big fruitless Mulberry tree where our feeder hangs. The house finch is the most common bird we get, although I’ll be posting a Goldfinch as well.

Trust me, I am NOT a wildlife/bird photographer, although I dabbled many, many years ago. I have a great appreciation for those of you who work really hard at this craft producing outstanding images. Personally, I gave up anything serious because it just took too much time… study, patience, dedication, behaviour learning, etc. etc. Not to mention the cost of some high powered glass!

But dang-it, I just love to photograph all of nature!

Specific Feedback

Very curious how this common finch and “on a stick” portrait stands up to the quality here! Any and all feedback appreciated!

Specifically if the technical quality is good enough that I may pursue further backyard birding - only perhaps getting on a tripod and maybe a remote to get closer so not have to crop too much.

Also, I know the 28-400 is not as good/sharp as the 100-400… so I’m having to decide whether or not to swap out the 28-400?

Technical Details

Nikon Z7ii, Z28-400mm @360mm, handheld f/8, 1/1600th, iso6400. Significant crop!

Amazingly, both ACR Denoise AND Topaz DeNoise AI were used! I’ve been impressed with what these tools can do nowadays… In full disclosure, with the big crop the bokeh on the right was too far away and was getting cut off - so I did a “transform” of the bg and “moved” the bg a bit to the left to retain the bg bokeh. Hopefully successfully!

Critique Template

Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.

  • Vision and Purpose:
  • Conceptual:
  • Emotional Impact and Mood:
  • Composition:
  • Balance and Visual Weight:
  • Depth and Dimension:
  • Color:
  • Lighting:
  • Processing:
  • Technical:
2 Likes
2

For a non-bird photographer, I have to say that this is one of the best house finch images I’ve seen in a long, long time, Lon. Your basic photography skills are obvious in this with the perch and bird both tack sharp throughout and a pleasing background. Nice choice of perch for them. Word of warning-they tend to get messy in a big hurry, so an arrangement that makes them easy to change out is helpful.

The thing that makes this image stand out to me is the really nice lighting that provides a lot of modeling to the bird rather than the flat over-the-shoulder lighting of the simplistic photographic commandments.

3

Wonderful!! Great pose, fantastic light, very attractive natural-looking perch, wonderful BG and composition! And a clean beak – that’s the hardest part. Keep at it!

4

Hi Lon, really nice image with a fine pose and background. The subtle lighting on the bird is quite pleasing to view. I like the head turn with a view of the bird’s backside. The perch is also nice too with its jointed sections. Nice frame.

5

Pretty spiff for a landscaper. LOL.

Not only did you nail it in the field, but all the processing know-how really paid off. It has terrific organization and that direct eye-contact is killer. One thing you could try is to just lift the exposure on the bird slightly - it might just need mid tones lifted, sometimes that works well. Then I’d do a radial gradient just over the eye and raise the shadows there. Just lovely.

6

The detail and pose are great and the angled perch adds some interest. I like the contrasting background, though could see lightening the dark green-tends to draw my eye-or as Kris suggested bring up the exposure on the bird.

7

This is really nice Lon. I like the sharpness of the image and the deepness of the color. Some nice contrast in the background. As Dennis says, your skills show off real well in this image.

8

Thank you so much @Dennis_Plank , @Diane_Miller , @Kris_Smith , @Allen_Sparks , @Allen_Brooks and @David_Schoen . Very much appreciate the kind words

Good observation Kris. In fact in one of my final edits I did elevate the luminosity a bit, which leads to the classic situation of viewing and working your own image, one often loses sight of some effects simply by working on it too long. But I certainly agree with your assessment. And also, thanks for the tip on the radial mask for just the eye. Cool tip, Thanks!

Allen, totally agree you on the dark corners. And just like my reply to Kris, I did dodge those corners! But sometimes you lose sight and I agree that I didn’t go far enough. Good feedback!

Thanks David. I was literally blown away with what Denoise in both ACR and Topaz were able to do with this image. Below is the uncropped, unprocessed RAW file (just resized for the web) and you can see what a huge crop it was and I’m amazed how much detail was retained (or created?). You can see the bird feeder perch on the right.

Thank you all!

55Z7__1736-sharpened
55Z7__1736-sharpened2048×1365 1.41 MB