Don't behead that Echinacea!

[Dennis_Plank]

Critique Style: Standard

The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.

Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical

About This Image

A few days ago we had large numbers of juvenile goldfinches in the Echinacea. Now, they’re pretty much gone. I did manage to get some time with this bird before it decided to move on. The birding gurus insist that they’ll overwinter in this area, but I’ve never seen one and we have a lot of them in the summer.

Feedback Requested

This was taking relatively early in the morning, but it was clear and the sun was already pretty bright. I spent a fair amount of time trying to alleviate the harshness and hopefully it was reasonably successful. Most of the frames I got, the bird’s mouthful was pretty messy and I chose this one because it was obvious it had found something, but it’s nice and compact. Does that part work? I also deliberately left in an array of the echinacea heads to give a feel for the garden area.

Technical Details

Camera: SONY ILCE-1
Lens: FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
Focal length: 840mm
Shutter speed: 1/2000s
Aperture: f/9
ISO: 1600

[Allen_Brooks]

I’m very envious, Dennis. My kind of shot. It’s both a great behavioral and environmental shot. Excellent composition with a great background. Nice light as well. Maybe you’re too far north. I do see some in the winter months, though the Lesser Goldfinch is more prevalent..

[Lon_Overacker]

Dennis,

So much to like about this one. The light is beautiful lighting both the bird and the flower heads. The colors are all complimentary with the golden earth tones and the pale green in the bg. And then there’s the story, the environment that is captured so beautifully. I sense pending “action.”

Maybe it’s me, butthe bird seems ever so slightly soft, most notably picked up around the eye and head feathers. It doesn’t change the empact or impact of this lovely photo