The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
David Schoen and I did a trip to a local pond yesterday. We anticipated that it would be overgrown with pond lilies but thought we might get catch some songbirds or birds in flight. We didn’t get the latter, but we did have a few opportunities with other birds and some fairly unique shots. This little guy foraging was one of my favorite encounters.
Specific Feedback
I made no attempt to clean up the lily pads except to clone over a couple of brown ones along the edges. I thought I’d leave them their ragged selves and see how people react to it.
Technical Details
Sony A1, FE 200-600 @ 600 mm, monopod with Sidekick head, f/6.3, 1/1600, iso 2000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 4150x2858. Taken at 9:57 AM yesterday.
That is one small bird or a bunch of really big lily pads! But the bird is wonderfully sharp and has a great pose hanging onto the edge of the pad. I might clean up the leaf edge in the LL corner but the rest looks natural.
Great catch! I will have to keep my eyes peeled for this kind of thing next time I go kayaking. Haven’t seen it before, but I’m sure the insects that infest lily pads attract songbirds as well as dragonflies. Very sharp bird and the leaves don’t look too ragged to me. I could see cropping the bottom left entirely since I think there is enough foliage to show the scene. Hope you and David had a great day. If this is any indication, you did.
Nice one Dennis - great pose on the warbler with fine sharpness. Really nice environmental image with a bird that is hard to catch. I like this version but I think Kris’ crop suggestion would be good to investigate. Well done.
A cool small-in-the-frame shot, Dennis. As others have noted, excellent detail in the bird and I, for one, have always preferred a more natural look for environmental shots like this. I just don’t believe every little blemish in nature needs to be “cleaned up”. Well done.
Nice capture, Dennis, I think the cropped clean up version is more aesthetically pleasing and a better bird image. The slightly larger bird in the redo provides a better balance in the comp. I see the bird often along the water’s edge but have not seen it working the pads.
You have captured the bird in its environment exceedingly well
A tighter crop is a personal opinion of course - one might still be able to show case both - subject and its environment - a little more than @Dennis_Plank suggestion
