Hooded Oriole youngster

Critique Style Requested: Standard

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

Description

This was shot about two weeks ago. This spring we had a lot of Bullock’s and few Hooded – and normally in past years it’s been the reverse. In the week after this I saw this guy and a younger one, but no adults. The Bullock’s left first and now they’ve all headed south for the winter. (And of note – I shot a bird in an actual tree!)

Specific Feedback

All comments welcome! The light on the BG rendered it very close to the color of the bird. I hope I got the correct separation.

Technical Details

Screenshot 2024-08-06 at 1.28.03 PM

A little shadows and highlights in LR. Into PS for denoise and some blurring on the leaves in the UL. Cropped to about 50%. Foggy morning light.


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4 Likes

Excellent, Diane. The background is always more challenging in a tree, but this one works very well. The out of focus branch on the right is a nice echo of the perch, so it’s not distracting. Detail and lighting are superb.

1 Like

Fantastic image, Diane; the colors, imho, are spot on! Well done!

Very nice, I especially like the colors and the comp. From your crop, it looks like you could also try some variations for a lot of different framing options. I like it as presented…Jim

Thanks, @Dennis_Plank, @J_Fritz_Rumpf and @Jim_Zablotny! The tree was very messy to the left and below and the BG very empty to the left. This felt like a decent balance.

Very nice Diane, I like the color rendition on the bird and BG. Fine details and exposure. The pose and head turn is quite nice too. Well composed.

Diane: love the pose and the perch. There is a very nice harmony between the coloration of the bird and the background. Well done!

Thanks, @Allen_Sparks, @Sandy_Richards-Brown and @Richard_Sandor! I was so lucky with the light and the BG here. The colors were so similar it took a little tweaking to get a bit of separation. Auto WB would have been a mess here.

I love the youngsters you’ve been getting Diane. This one is really nice. Color, composition, BG, the whole package, with a great head turn and look to boot.

Thanks @Ed_Williams – I got lucky this spring! More coming!

Really nice shot. Did you look at pumping the contrast up a little? Curious.

Hi Diane, This is a fabulous portrait. I love the harmonious colors in this image.

Thanks, @Dave_Douglass and @sandipan! Dave, the light was very soft and I actually used Shadows and Highlights very slightly to reduce contrast very slightly from the Adobe Color profile. It seemed like a subject that needed softness.

And thanks, @Dennis_Plank and @Allen_Sparks, for the EP – what a nice surprise!

1 Like

Bravo!
This is such a wonderful image. I feel that this would also make a great black & white because it’s a duotone of greens and yellows to begin with.

Thanks, @Chris_Rusnak! I might try that when I dig out of the current busyness.