Environmental (e.g. In Situ) Avian Portrait

[franz (Franz Gisin)]

Final image (after cropping). [Tried several aspect ratios. Finally settled on an XPan (2.7:1] ratio.]

Critique Style Requested: In-depth

The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.

Self Critique

I’m happy with this image the way it is. I had a spare XPan mat and frame, which is why I ended up being cropped/printed this way.

Creative direction

See next section…

Specific Feedback

For some time now I’ve noticed an increased reluctance to remove the “environment” from my bird images. Tight crops. Vignetted borders. Cloned out distractions. Etc.

This is not the world these two live in. And somehow attempting to morph their environment into something that looks like it was taking in a portrait studio just doesn’t feel right. Falsely labeling “complexity” as “chaos” in order to justify making all these changes somehow feels artificial to me too. [I would not be a bit surprised if these two find it quite comfy nestled deep inside this camouflaged array of branches…]

Your thoughts on this internal struggle of mine would be sincerely appreciated…

Technical Details

Nikon Z8 + 600 mm + 2X teleconverter + DX mode (1.5X magnification) = 1800 mm. Not counting the crop in post. Maxed out. Mounted on a sturdy RRS tripod. No wind. [I even held my breath during the exposure.]

Description

Originally, I was trying to take some images of a pair of sand hill cranes on the other side of a flooded field. But the water-evaporating thermals made it all but impossible to get a good shot.

So I turned the camera around and started poking around in the branches of a nearby tree. Much to my surprise, I found a whole flock of birds (house finches, gold finches, sparrows, etc.) all chilling out amonst the branches. For a while I was so fascinated by their antics I initially forgot to even press the shutter…

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[Dennis_Plank]

This composition works, Franz. The complexity of the background doesn’t bother me. Sometimes a sufficiently cluttered background becomes equivalent to a texture and doesn’t obtrude. For me, there are times when a clean background works and others, like this image where the tree clutter works. An yes, they do like this kind of habitat-it is much safer than an open perch, though they like those as well for easier evasion. I have a couple of very messy honeysuckle bushes that the Juncos just adore to use for cover.

[Allen_Brooks]

The composition works to show off the two finches, Franz. The finches are front and center, so the background branches nicely show their habitat without obscuring the birds.

[Allen_Sparks]

Hi Franz, I like this crop. I think it fits well to show off the birds with the background of twigs showing their environment. Kudos to get the birds sharp against this backdrop.

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

The crop aspect ratio works nicely with the long branch they are sitting on. In terms of complex v. chaos and lots of competing elements in these kinds of photos, it depends on what your intended purpose for them is, such as contests where this probably wouldn’t be popular except in some categories. If the complexity does actually bother you, but you work with it because you don’t know how else to manage it, you could find a perch that is clear and has good sight lines and wait for your subject to light there. That’s the only thing I can suggest if more jangled surroundings really aren’t what you’re aiming for. If you are trying to show the life and times of birds, it works and is much easier to do. Songbirds are especially difficult as they are so tiny and I have tossed many a photo on the scrap heap because the bird is lost in a sea of leaves and branches.

[franz (Franz Gisin)]

Kristen;

Thanks for your detailed comments. They are sincerly appreciated.

I’ve got lots of other bird images where the “environment” is not nearly as cluttered. [But none where the bird was (temporarily?) clutching a branch that was placed closer to a bird feeder than the background behind the bird. It’s just not my thing!]

For what it’s worth, we’ve had lots of dense fog here in the central California delta lately, and I’ve actually gone down to the Cosumnes river preserve this last weekend (where these two birdies were located) to see what bird photography in the fog can produce. [Come to think of it, I might actually have the opposite problem - backgrounds that are too bland. In which case I’ll have to make sure the foreground takes on more responsibility when it comes to compositional visual weight…]

Cheers,
Franz