The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
Cardinals have been the bane of my photographic odyssey. The males usually sneak around the feeders as the sun goes down or right at dawn. At these times, the red colors are muted by the cooler temperature of light. I was able to get this one by shooting through our kitchen window with window screen removed and window wide open. Jenny did complain about the abundance of flies in the house, but cautioned her by telling her that the cats found them to be pure entertainment. She did not buy it!
Feedback Requested
I left the bokeh in place and reduced saturation of greens, cyan, and reds. How do you feel about the colors of this scene? Do they appear natural to you and would you eliminate the circular bokeh behind the bird?
Processing software: Lightroom Classic, Photoshop 2025.
DeNoise, levels, Crop for Comp, Shadows & Highlights, Micro-contrast enhancement with unsharp mask done on a luminosity layer, Reduction of saturation of green, cyan, and red.
Major adjustments:
Blending/stacking:
Other notes:
Nice try with your wife,(two points for trying). LOve the Cardinal, the coloring is outstanding and the feature detail and eye contact are also very cool. I try selling the bokeh as the backlight key.
Long ago when I lived in Williamsburg, VA one winter when the trees were bare a flock of cardinals landed on one tree and their color against the cloudy sky reminded me a of a Christmas tree. Your image brought back that nice memory of one of my favorite birds.
The color of the bird looks very nice, and the bokeh does not bother me. I love the exquisite detail, and the catch-light in the eye. Nicely done, sir!
-P
Hi Jim,
I love these birds. I lived in Central Illinois for a few years, and when the cardinals would land on the snow on our front lawn, there was no better place to be than glued to the picture window.
To me, the green and red complementary colors are ideal. They really make the male cardinal pop. The one bit of bokeh in the upper right could be burned a tish perhaps? I’m not sure. To me, it’s a little distracting, but maybe it’s like the stage lights for this guy. A slight crop off the top right might reduce it’s effect, if that effect is bothersome to others too.
I’m not much of a bird photographer, so grain of salt and all that, and thanks for sharing this lovely fellow.
ML
Jim: What a terrific capture of one of my favorite birds as well. I rarely shoot birds unless the opportunity just falls in my lap but if this was mine i would just drop the mic and press on. Beautiful subject superbly captured and rendered .>=))>
Oh nice - love seeing the reds of these birds captured so well. Looks great against the green. Also like the diagonal perch. These birds are spooky for me too - really hard to catch. My best luck down here has been in snowy weather. I do like this as is. If it were mine, I’d also do a version that took out the three largest circular highlights and see which one I liked best. Congrats on the catch and well done!
When they were ubiquitous in my yard in NH, I don’t think I ever photographed one. I wasn’t yet equipped to do wildlife photography, and I regret not trying earlier. Instead I went macro and we all know how deep that rabbit hole goes. Wisconsin is well within their range, but I almost never see Cardinals. Last winter one male appeared near the feeder, but only a couple times and I haven’t seen a female. Drat.
The pose is great and that crest! I love crested birds so much. It’s like a jaunty hat-tip when it’s up. The bokeh works for me because it frames the bird and adds to my interest with the change in light. The greens look fine to me and I like the range of shades. The bird’s crimson plumage looks right to me, but I wonder if his beak is a tad dark? It’s been a long time since I got a real good look at one, but I remember them being brighter and more orange.
Congratulations on getting a superb photo after years of frustration.
Visual Notes
[1] Oohh rimlight. Catches him so well and I love the tufts where his legs meet his body.
I think you did a fine job on the colors in this image, Jim, and I’d definitely keep the bokeh balls. The red in this species varies so much that almost any variation could be considered realistic, but this is a nice classical deep red that I find pleasing.
Thank you @Marylynne_Diggs , @Kris_Smith , @Bill_Fach , @Allen_Sparks , @Dennis_Plank , @Preston_Birdwell , @Peter_Morrissey , @Huw_Thomas , @Diane_Miller and @David_Schoen for your critiques. Also, thank you @NPN_Editor for the EP. @Diane_Miller , that’s a good lesson on how to reduce bokeh’s in an image. Your edits improved the image for those that do not prefer bokeh’s . I will have to give this a try. @Peter_Morrissey I’m still chuckling about when you wrote: “Nice try with your wife,(two points for trying).” Always worth the 2 points! The sun was positioned to the left and the rim light appeared like magic. Cardinals are usually deep in brush and was fortunate to catch him out in the open…Jim
Dennis_Plank
(Dennis Plank)
selected this as an Editor's Pick
11
I like the way the color was handled in this image. It’s ridiculously tough to get the reds right in male cardinals and this one is gorgeous.
I’m late here but have to add by praise – and congratulations on the well-deserved EP! I’ve only seen Cardinals in south TX but I’d love to have even an occasional chance at them. I love the colors, pose and detail. For my taste the bokeh ball behind the bird and top center could be softened. The clump in the UR corner doesn’t bother me. Had to give it a try. The softening preserved a surprising amount of the detail in the crest, but to mask it all back in I had to denoise the original layer a bit to make it match. Although it was targeted at the one area behind the bird, it smoothed out the other BG areas a bit so I kept the entire effect.
