Flying through the cattails

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

20240602-birds-44.jpg
20240602-birds-44.jpg1823×2278 2.2 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I was able to capture the focus on the bird which is lucky in all the cattails. Lots of birds in this marsh and fun to watch as they fly from cattail to cattail and then sing.
Cropped and edited in LR.

Specific Feedback

I like the bird and the blurred wings but the background is blah. More or less crop or blur the background?

Technical Details

F6.3,1/500,ISO 200 with a 400mm lens
Edited in LR

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2

Hi Phil, really unique and interesting image. Amazing you could get and maintain focus on the head in all those cattails. Well done! I think the bird contrasts well with the BG and given that is what you saw that day, if this were mine I wouldn’t change the BG or try to crop in too tight. If you are into removing stems, the one pointing out of the bird’s body might could go. Nice catch - I even see just a hint of an eye catchlight. I like the blurred wings too. Nice frame.

3

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good on the focus.

4

Nice job, Phil. This female Yellow-headed Blackbird is tack sharp on the head where it needs to be. Cattails are interesting for backgrounds-sometimes they work beautifully and other times they can be pretty blah. I could see a little more blur on the background and removing the stem rising out of the back of the bird, but the situation makes this shot, so it stands well as-is.

5

Head is nice and sharp and that’s all that you may need for this shot. You can also tweak down the cyan in the cattails which seems to impart a color cast. Other than that, like the comp…Jim

6

I love how the bird seems to be slaloming through the cattails, with great focus on the head and fine motion blur in the wings. The oof foreground stem in the center really makes this shot for me.