Allen, nice pose and I like the leaves too. A slightly-wider crop might be good, to avoid cutting off the yellow lower leaves.
I’m also curious as to the white BG…
Nice frame, Allen. The leaves really do contribute a lot to the image. The bright background doesn’t bother me much since I’m used to that kind of sky in the NW.
Nice pose and setting, with good sharpness on the bird. The overexposure did a good job of bringing out detail on the bird, which I assume was in some degree of shade. I think you could back off of whatever you did to the sky, though. A faulty spot in a mask shows in the lichen at the bottom of the branch, and there is quite a bit of a cutout look. I’d love to see more of the leaves in the LR corner.
Thanks @Peter_Morrissey , @SandyR-B , @Dennis_Plank , and @Diane_Miller for your input. I’ve posted another version addressing some of the concerns. As Dennis mentioned, that’s a typical overcast sky in the NW. Cloudy, but still quite bright, and I was shooting up at the sky. Perhaps I didn’t need that much exposure compensation, but the bird was pretty dark without quite a bit of it. The original shot cut off the bottom leaf, so I gave generative fill a try. I attempted to fix the lichen and a few other processing issues I came across. Thanks all for your assistance.
High key photography is difficult to pull off with natural subjects, but provides a graphical feel to the comp. The repost improves the brightness of the BG. The blacks are handled well and I would not darken them any more. The leaves add seasonal info and the comp looks pretty good…Jim
