Kittiwake in Scotland

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

Kittiwake in Scotland
Kittiwake in Scotland3000×2400 1.26 MB

Despite buying 100-400mm lens a few years ago with the intention to use it on widlife, I have mostly used it for landscapes. Having only 2-3 outings for birds. This is from my last trip to Scotland trying to photograph puffins. I managed to see them from far, but by far this was the highlight of my trip. I was able to get very close to this bird and probably took a couple of hundred photos just of it. This one I like the most because of the lucky moment with the angle of the head and the perfect symmetry.

Type of Critique Requested

  • Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
  • Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
  • Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
  • Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

One of the things which I don’t know if I like is the out of focus grass in the foreground. I like the bottom part quite a bit, but there are a few tall ones which bother me a bit. Also the placement of the head given the direction is not the best, but panning to the right would have been mostly out of focus grass.

Technical Details

1 Like
2

Hi!

Thanks for your submission.

The softness of this image with the out of focus areas, the angle of the head and the soft colors is powerful. This is what I would call a fine art shot. The way the tail feathers merge into the bokeh grasses is working for me.

We can get all technical about this and that and sometimes images just speak to us, the moment is pulling on something inside and so we get fascinated like you did with this bird.

This is the creative right of the photographer to not always have everything tack sharp or in perfectly clear foregrounds and backgrounds. Sometimes there is a moment that deserves a photo. It only matters if the shot is working and this shot is working for me.

Nature has a soft side too and I think you communicated that well in this image. This is a lesson for all of us that when you cannot get in that perfect position or some other variable is not ideal, shot an arty shot!

Hope that is helpful.

Julie

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3

It is the overall mood and beauty of the scene and the bird that captures one’s attention. Well done!

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