This was taken in my in-laws backyard. They have a great porch on the back of their house with a collection of bird feeders next to it. About 40-50 feet away are several trees with nice photogenic exposed branches. I got myself positioned such that this nice opening was lined up with the background far enough away so that it would be mostly out of focus. The light was perfect in this spot with the late morning dappled light filtering though the tree canopy. Once in position, I grabbed my camera look up and there she was, in the perfect position. It all happened so fast, I did not even have a chance to setup the tripod. She gave me several poses, looking in the other direction, up, down, but I think this one was the best. So glad my subject was in-tune with me on this shot!
Specific Feedback Requested
Any feedback welcome, but would really like comments on composition and lighting as well as post-processing
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D500 w/Tamron 15-600mm G2 Lens @ 600mm. ISO 800, 1/350 @ f6.3 handheld.
Cropped slightly, general minor exposure, contrast, saturation, sharpening, noise removal all done in Lightroom. Exported to Photoshop to remove some distracting highlights in the background that I could not avoid.
The over the shoulder looking pose is really nice. Great positioning of the bird in the frame. I like the overall composition . Overall background works pretty well.
I keep getting pulled to the bright spots on the right branch and I find the bird a bit too dark.
Here’s a version addressing those issues and couple of other minor edits.
Very lovely – subject, lighting, pose, perch and BG are all wonderful!! Good work grabbing the shot while you could. (Is this maybe a juvenile?)
Good suggestions by @Keith_Bauer. In addition you might consider a slight crop from the bottom to remove the portion of the OOF branch that is parallel to the frame, or clone out that part.
Hi Doug
I like the head turn , eye contact and coloring of the Oriole. Keith & Diane have a point on the cropping. In your first posting, larger crop will give the Oriole a more prominent framing. Nice looking bird.
Peter
A very nice catch here Doug and you were smart to act quickly. Valid points were made by others, but I will say it holds up pretty well in the enlargement and I liked the feather detail.
