Ruby-crowned Kinglet and re-post

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
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Ruby-crowned Kinglet-NPN2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-NPN22543Ă—2007 859 KB

Ruby-crowned Kinglet-NPN.jpg
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-NPN.jpg2543Ă—2007 1.28 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

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

Description

A fairly common bird in my area, but one that is hard to photograph as they rarely stay still and generally are in amongst the branches, so I got lucky here with one in the open against a nice background. I like the perch in terms of the leaves in front, but the backside might be a bit heavy for such a tiny bird.

Specific Feedback

Any thoughts/advice appreciated

Technical Details

Canon R5; 100-500 with 1.4 TC at 700 mm; 1/1000 at f10, -2/3 EV; ISO 800

1 Like
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Hi Allen, I like the look of this image and the natural perch as is. Great to get a kinglet in the open like this. I did some real pixel peeping and noticed a band of “no noise” around the bird’s head and back and then a bit of noise elsewhere in the BG. I’m thinking a round of NR on the BG only would minimize this.
A fine catch.

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I really like this one, Allen. The leaves make two nice triangles-always a good compositional element, and the bird stands out very well against the pleasant background. I looked at what the other Allen mentioned and I could see it. It looks like you may have done a bit of cleanup around the bird as there’s a partial tuft of what looks like feather above the back of the head.

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Oh these are so cute!! I love that you caught one out in the open. They do like their straggly branches, don’t they? I love how round and healthy this one looks. The perch doesn’t bother me because it does lend a little scale. I do wonder if a slight white balance shift to a bit cooler would help with some color separation. Things seem a tad muddy. Could be the mid-tones need a lift, too, but it’s tough to judge. Did you use a blur layer? I think there are some edges that could use a look. Super shot and I hope I get to see some of these this year!

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Thanks for the comments and suggestions, @Allen_Sparks , @Dennis_Plank , and @Kris_Smith .

Allen, I ran a small amount of noise reduction on the BG.

Dennis, I removed that tuft, though it was actually there out of camera, but it does look like something missed in cleanup.

Kris, No blur layer. I made the image very slightly cooler, which I think does help.

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Allen: I’d be more than happy with either version as you have captured the bird on a naturally diagonal perch and with the bird set against an oof background. I do like the repost just a bit better as the background is a bit warmer. Great to see this little guy in an uncluttered setting. Congrats!

1 Like