The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Yes I still have a camera. LOL. Although I haven’t been shooting a lot in the last few months, this growing family of White Breasted Nuthatches has caught my attention. They are perfect for the lazy bird photographer. Not quite as good as the hummingbirds that come to the flowers on the deck where I can sit on the couch, but close. The nest is in a tree right on the edge of my lawn in back and about 7 feet up. Granted, I do have to stand there with the monopod, but it’s pretty darn easy wildlife photography. I don’t even have to hide behind a tree or anything. Plus they usually signal their arrivals with their characteristic honking. What more do I want?
Well…to find the best angle. This one seems to work - a bit off to the side so the bird shows up a bit better in a side view rather than straight onto the tree trunk. The issue is the background is very bright so I do my best. I’m only about 15 feet from the tree so I can back off the lens a bit, too. When the leaves mature, the light will be a bit dimmer, but I’ll take it. What I don’t like to take are the ticks…picked one up yesterday while out there. Bah.
Specific Feedback
I’m going to get more time with these guys and this brood and probably the second if they have one, so any advice as to processing, angles, lighting, etc. I’ll take on board. I’m also going 'round and 'round about how dark to leave the nest opening. With the naked eye you can see some detail there, but cameras don’t work like eyes so…
Lr for basic processing including the crop and some wb adjustment as well as taming the biggish dynamic range. ON1 No Noise for some clean up. Also worked with a brush in masking to reduce the green reflection on the bird’s underside. Used the point color tool for that. Added some texture and other masking to massage tonalities and exposure.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
A very nice pose with prey always enhances the strength of composition in bird photography. Exposure is spot on and there’s enough light entering the nest hole for my taste. In a week or two, I believe that once the leaves have all sprouted, the BG will darken considerably…Jim
The BG works well for me – the great outdoors is like that sometimes. A sweet pose and a good story. Good detail on the bird and good DOF – these little things are SO 3D it’s frustrating.
I usually live dangerously with these twitchy little guys and shoot a burst at slower shutter speeds (often around 1/250) and lower ISOs. They do freeze momentarily and I usually get a few frames sharp. But I’m on a tripod, which removes one element of movement.
Hi Kris, all seems well handled to me. The lighting on the tree, the background, and the bird in general. Great to catch the adult with a goody to offer the chicks. Love seeing the topside of the bird like this too.
This composition works for me, Kris. It also leaves room on the top so in the future, if you have the need, you can crop a bit off it for a more conventional (e.g. greeting card) format. I wouldn’t worry about the darkness of the cavity unless you start to see chicks hidden back there. In that situation, it would be easy enough to overexpose a shot and steal that part of the brighter image. The bright background might not be ideal, but it doesn’t bother me. If they’re feeding babies, you probably don’t have more than a couple of weeks on the first batch.
If you want to be a couch potato, just mount your camera on a ground pod, clamp it to the top of a 6’ step ladder and use your remote control from the couch on the porch
Thanks @Jim_Zablotny, @Diane_Miller, @Allen_Brooks, @Allen_Sparks & @Dennis_Plank - I think it tells a nice story, but I just witnessed part that might spell the demise of the nest. A Red Bellied Woodpecker just made off with a nestling. I know it’s nature and how things are, but I feel a little ill. The Nuthatches are just powerless to stop it. Their calls of distress are enough to make you cry.
Beyond sad, even if that’s the way things are. I once saw a crow or raven snatch a very small baby Osprey from an unattended nest. It still makes me sick to think about it. And last summer we had three baby House Finches in a nest in an overgrown Clematis on a deck post and one day they disappeared. I suspected ground squirrels or woodpeckers. The nest wasn’t damaged, they just disappeared. In the middle of the day.
I do like how sharp the insect is in its beak too. Sorry about the chick. Did you see if the the woodpecker went right in to grab it? Maybe it was once the woodpecker’s hole, and he was claiming a sort of “droit de seigneur” - but let’s hope one is enough for the robber.
Thanks @Mike_Friel - yeah, she went right in. I’d been watching her with binoculars on a nearby tree, way up, then she dove right down and came out with the chick and flew off with it to another tree. It was brutal to watch and I wish I hadn’t. I know that’s the deal in nature, but it’s so very sad. Not sure about the status of the poor nuthatches at the moment.
A bummer for sure. The nuthatches picked a nest hole that was too big for them to effectively defend. I watched a pair of chickadees build a nest cavity out of an old rotten tree branch. Then one day, house wrens moved in and destroyed the eggs and took over the nest hole. Unfortunately, its the way nature operates. Hopefully, the nuthatches will persevere. …Jim
At least the early possibility of the family got preserved – keep at it – you have a great environment to work in, And congratulations on the EP – so well-deserved!
Thanks again @Jim_Zablotny & @Diane_Miller - they are gone now, as I suspected, the whole brood was wiped out. Not sure if they are trying again elsewhere or have given up altogether, but I’m very sad about it both from a life perspective and from a selfish photographer perspective.
And I’m so surprised at the EP - thanks much. It is a nice touch on a bummer of a situation. It’s normal, but I still feel so sad about it. Big softie that I am.
