(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Nice photo Skip. It really shows the full frontal view of hairy and profile of head with that nice splash of red. Whites look good and nice and sharp with focus on the eye. If anything the bird might be moved a bit to left in frame.
A very pleasing pose and perch, and I love how you used the tree trunk for a BG, but the bird looks like it has a heavy dose of noise reduction. I have been using Topaz DeNoise and recent versions do an amazing job. I never need to use more than the default settings. If you used a different method it would pay to compare, as this is a very striking image.
An under-photographed bird. I have always thought Hairies and Downies are great looking, but you don’t seem them much on photo forums. I like the perch, and I also really like the trunk in the BG. Critique-wise, I wouldn’t mind if the bird’s head was turned a bit more towards the viewer. And I also noticed how smooth the bird is. Looks like a case of too much NR.
I agree with what everyone else has said however
I will add that I think the crop is a little tight.
Lovely shot, Skip - interesting with the bark as a background. Love the birds pose as well. As Diane mentioned the image seems to lack a bit of detail, which me have been caused by too much noise reduction. Other than that, a fine image ! Cheers, Hans
Thanks to all who commented. I am a bit perplexed by the comments that I used too much noise reduction because I didn’t use noise reduction on this image! Any thoughts?
