Morning Rufous

Here’s a shot I managed out on my deck of a Rufous Hummer coming into a feeder in the morning sunlight with a shadow background. These are my favorite Hummingbirds here.

Specific Feedback Requested

Cropping work?

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
D500, Nikon 200-500 lens, 1/2500th, f 7.1, 320mm, ISO 6400, monopod/gimbal head, cropped to 1560 x 1076, AI Clear

2 Likes

Hello Dave! This is beautiful! I love the lighting and the dark background! To answer your question about the crop. I’m not sure but I feel like the bird needs to be in the top right with a little more room in front and underneath, to kind of give the look of a landing? If that’s even possible. But it’s really an awesome shot!

This is what I did anyway with what you have for a crop, but it might be better from your original with more to work with…

Nice details on the Rufous. Bird angle isn’t ideal, but tough with these guys. Maybe you have more. Crop: I think it is far too tight. No context about what’s going on in the frame based on the presentation. Is there a flower to the left? The viewer can’t tell. It isn’t all about getting a full frame view of a bird to make it successful. I’m always reminded of Ansel Adams famous quote “There are always 2 people in every photograph: the photographer and the viewer”.

Hi Dave. I tend to agree with Keith on the crop being far tighter than necessary. With this pose, I’d also be tempted to place the bird more toward the upper right portion of the frame-to my eye it looks a bit odd being so low. The light on the bird is great.

A really nice job on what looks like an incoming pose. I also find the crop tight and with the lovely dark contrasting bg the hummer will still really stand out with more room. .

Very nice shot – I agree about needing a little more room to the left and below, but not much – I appreciate it as a portrait and for my taste, I don’t need any environmental aspects. I do find the back wing a bit distracting and I think it could be cloned out without being missed.

I was interested why the colors of Vanessa’s RP were so different. NOTE: if anyone does not see them as different, there is a caution here. I downloaded both and both have ProPhoto embedded as the color space. What happened in @Vanessa_Hill’s system I don’t know – did she intentionally change the colors or can her system even see the difference? In order for the largest audience to see your colors accurately, you should always convert to sRGB before posting anywhere on the web. The reasons are complex, in the way browsers handle colors. (I have a couple of tutorials on my web site, www.dianedmiller.com.)

Despite the ProPhoto profile, my system sees Dave’s colors as accurate. Some of you will but some others will not.

@Dave_Douglass @Diane_Miller
Yes, I did see that the colors changed and I don’t know why. All I did was crop. And I did it on my phone, I can’t do it on my iPad. For that matter, anything I do with anyone’s photos, would be a crop, as I don’t feel I have the equipment or qualifications to change anything else! :grimacing:

@Vanessa_Hill, I’m guessing the colors changed because the iPhone decided to render some sort of average “correction”. Working accurately with color has gotten better over the last 10-15 years or so, but isn’t magic yet.

@Diane_Miller …or maybe because it’s not an iPhone! I would think iPhone would be better. I have an old 2017 Huawei Honor! :grin: