The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
With more birders than birds, Magee Marsh is an extremely difficult place for bird photography. For this shot, I traversed the boardwalk 4 times and extremely dark conditions forced me to use a fairly wide aperture. I was hoping to photograph a magnolia warbler and I partially fulfilled my quest. I wish for more DOF and along with brighter shooting conditions, would have made this a top notch shot. I had to clean up a light colored OOF Y-shaped twig which spanned the LH portion of the frame.
Specific Feedback
How do you feel about the shallow DOF? My opinion is that more DOF is always better for birds.
Technical Details
Z9 200-400mm f4 at 340mm (1/800sec at f5.0, ISO 1250, fill at -2ev) Levels, rubber stamp tool for branch removal. Slight crop for comp.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
An excellent shot for the conditions! The eye is sharp and for me the natural falloff of DOF is not a big concern. More DOF would have given a bit more detail in the BG, and that might be interesting. Sometimes I will do a subtle layer of Nik Detail Extractor and mask out the bird, just to see if there are some interesting details lurking. For me, the visual weight is a little off here – I would consider a crop from the top about halfway to the bud, and then a corresponding amount from the sides to preserve the aspect ratio.
Hi Jim
If the photograph was going to be used for a stamp or a high gloss table top book. I would agree with you about needing more DOF. But my eye never moves from the Warbler eye and find head and chest feather detail.
Nice work .
Peter
Hi Jim, nice catch of this tiny bird. Always great to see these beautiful warblers. Nice BG and thin perch. The DOF looks fine to me the eye is sharp and so is the chest and primary feathers - well done. I do like Diane’s bigger in the frame crop as well. Nice frame.
I’m with Peter: my eye goes right to the head and upper body. I think this is a very nice look at the warbler and the background give the warbler some pop.
Were/Are you there during the Biggest Week? We left the day before it started. The boardwalk was well populated, but not so bad it deterred photography and there was always someone to point out a bird or help with ID.
I have just begun the journey of avian photography, and so far I’ve noticed that these little birds are HARD to get right! They move so fast. At first I wasn’t even sure if they were interesting enough for the effort, but images like these are so inspiring Jim! His positioning on the branch (do you generally have to do a lot of branch removal when photographing these little guys?) is perfect, & I love the tilt of his head and the light catching in his eye (I’ll bet there’s a name for that, isn’t there?) I don’t have any idea what the current “photographic wisdom” is on dof for bird images, but my eye (& mind!) enjoys the more shallow versions as it allows the bird my full attention - as it does here. Great job!
@Allen_Brooks, I have been there during the Big Week and it is shoulder to shoulder on the boardwalk. This year, I went before and after it had come to an end. Birds are now scarce and numbers are way down and it makes it more challenging to get a good photo. Next time you head out this way, let me know and I can take you to some spots that will get you lark sparrow and a few other regional goodies. And I’m sure that screech owl will give you another cameo shot…
Interesting textures, which really pop with the shallow DOF.
I think the crop discussion is an interesting one (but I’m always obsessed with composition). One of the challenges here is the perpendicular lines—bird vs. branch—which makes it a bit more difficult to find the right balance. I’d actually prefer Diane’s crop if more were taken off the top. Because the subject has a subtle downward-left lean to it, I’d prefer that it rests in the upper right third of the frame, with more empty space ahead and slightly below it… my eye wants to go that way because of the directionality of the warbler.
