Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Another desert foray with my son to SE Arizona. This was taken at the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge. It is a nice oasis of sorts in a dry region.
Canon 7D MII, f8, 1/1600 sec, iso 400, 560 mm (100-400 w 1.4 TC)
Ed, I really like the position of the Robber Fly on his perch, and that BG is really nice. When I go to the large view though, it looks noisy. I’m not sure why that is because the 7D MII at ISO 400 shouldn’t be noisy. Did you crop this in quite a bit? That will reveal noise that otherwise might not be noticeable. If not, I would try some noise reduction and see if it helps. It is definitely worth trying to save.
Great title, Ed. The fly looks very sharp and well exposed and I like the angle you got on it with the eye so clearly defined.
Comp is pretty good with this one and robber flies are fun to photograph. Some noise reduction can help the graininess of the BG…Jim
Thank you @Shirley_Freeman , @Dennis_Plank , and @Jim_Zablotny. I think the graininess is probably from both a big crop and from using auto-sharpen in PS Elements in processing. I selected the BG and blurred it a bit to reduce the graininess there. I’m going to go back and start over with this one. Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I am learning a lot on NPN.
Ed: These are fearsome critters and I think you show its character well. NPN is a great place to learn and I attribute probably 90% or more of what success I’ve had to this site. Great to have you aboard and getting better all the time. 
>=))>
