Red Crossbills Foraging & Repost

Repost: With crop suggestion by @Peter_Morrissey

Original:


Artsy Silhouette Image of Same

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

My wife and I went up to Olympia to see how the urban fall colors were coming along this morning. On a whim we went to a local park that borders one of the inlets of Puget Sound. I was photographing reflections and liked the element of these old pilings when we noticed there were a couple of birds on them. I only had my walk-around 28-200 so it took zooming in on the image to ID them. Then they started calling and it was obvious what they were. They were obviously foraging for something on these old pilings, but I’m not sure what. I’ll have to go back with my birding lens and hope I can get better detail of the action.

Posted mostly for the ornithological interest, but I do like the images as well.

Specific Feedback

In the silhouette I darkened the birds and brightened the background significantly. Does it look reasonable?

Technical Details

Sony A7Riv, Tamron 28-200 @ 200, hand held, f/18 for the reflections, 1/250 for the bright one, 1/1250 for the silhouette, both at iso 2500. Noise reduction with DxO PureRaw 4, Processed in LR & PS CC. Both images cropped significantly to make the birds more visible.


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The pilings and the reflected foliage in the water makes for a pleasing image and a not so common bird (at least in my experience) is a nice addition.

Hi Dennis
I liked the concept, but I though the piling over powered the birds, so by cropping the bottom and I think this bring the birds into balance. What do you think?
Peter

I think you’re right, Peter.

Hi Dennis, I am back from our Smokies trip.
Very interesting avian subjects in this image. I have never seen this species so this is a treat. I like the repost better with Peter’s crop suggestion. The BG has interesting abstract patterns. It seems a tad bright to me but I’m not sure if toning it down would yield a realistic result. Great to see these birds.

Hi Dennis & Allen
You guys are just to kind.
Peter