Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
My first image posted for critique.
I would like to see what everybody’s initial reaction to the image is, If composition draws the viewer into the subject.? How do you feel about the woodpecker on this specific snag? Does this image feel more than just another bird on a stick image?
Other Information
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Image Description
This image was captured in my backyard on a late evening this summer. The red-bellied woodpecker is a new species of woodpecker for me to have photographed. This snag is in my backyard and set up to be used as a perch for birds that come in to my birdfeeders.
Technical Details
Canon EOS R5 mirrorless camera with Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens and using a Canon EF-R adapter., handheld.
My settings were ISO 4000m 1/1600 and f/6.3 at a focal length 600mm. In AV mode and `2/3 exposure compensation
taken in the late evening just before sunset.
Specific Feedback
Just looking for general feedback on image and if composition works for this image.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Thank you very much for the feedback. I have not thought about making this a vertical, but it is a good idea . I did not see it as a vertical in initial processing but now that you suggested it, I can envision it.
Oh I love Red Bellies. They’re the most vocal and bold of the woodpeckers we have in the yard and so constantly making their presences known. I like the light in this - great job getting out there. I can just see a hint of its namesake and you have a catch light in the eye, too. Bonus. Good detail and separation from the bg as well. Going vertical is the obvious crop here and most of my woody shots orient that way, but I don’t know if you need to with this. Try it and see. For me this is a bit different for its horizontal presentation and I can see her (looks to be a female) flitting up suddenly and zipping across that open space. They really are fun to have around so I hope this one doesn’t go far.
The head turn in this image does a great job of bringing the viewer into the image, Lori, and that’s a very nice and typical perch (dead and half rotten). I could see going to a vertical crop on this image as the bird and perch are both vertically oriented. To my eye, the hidden tail is precariously close to the bottom of the frame, so if you have more room there it would be nice to add some.
Thank you very much, Kristen! I appreciate your comments. I have been lucky that the redbellies have been hanging around my backyard this year which I have not seen them before in our yard. Thanks!
Thanks very much, Dennis. I believe the image was cropped some so I will have to see if I have more room below the tail. Great observation on that which I totally missed. I will have to try a vertical on this image. I appreciate your freedback.
