The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Another from the trip to Costa Rica last winter. This one had backed off from a feeder and was hovering before going back in.
Specific Feedback
To me, even though this bird is hovering the pose feels a little static-opinions?
Technical Details
Sony A1 Fe 200-600 + 1.4 TC @ 524 mm, monopod, f/9, 1/1600, iso 3200. Preprocessed in DxO PureRaw 4, further processing in LR & PS CC. The bird was pretty close to the lower rim of the feeder, so I cropped in from the left initially then expanded to the left top and bottom with content aware fill since the background was nicely mellow. Quite a few adjustments to local and global luminosity and saturation as this bird was a bit on the dull side originally.
Critique Template
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Excellent capture of detail and color. Nice OOF background. I wouldn’t say it looks static; to me there’s a sense of upward motion-the wing blur helps.
I think you were lucky to catch him in a hovering pose. You were able to catch a lot of detail. Nice job on the crop. I also like that you were able to catch his wings in the back position. He’s ready to take off tootin his horn. Thanks
Wonderful detail! Not static at all to me – he looks intent on something and the wing blur gives an additional dynamic element. There is a sot of fringe on the trailing edges of the wings – possibly a lens artifact? Would be easy to clean up or minimize with a bit of cloning.
Hi Dennis, I don’t see this as a static image either. Nice pose and BG. I see the wing artifacts Diane brought up. Maybe adding some space on the left and cropping in just a tad on the bottom would make the image a bit more dynamic.
@ Diane. I’m not sure what’s going on at the trailing edge of the wings. I thought it might have been a processing artifact as I selected the bird and brightened it a fair amount, but I did it on a separate layer and it was still there when I turned that layer off.
I’ve seen somewhat similar artifacts when I push tonalities in raw processing. Worth a look back at the raw steps. I’d just do a little cloning and let it go.
Very cool shot as it shows what these guys do best - hover. Never a disappointment when you get a relatively static shot because it shows that very well. Not all birds can do this as we know. In terms of the haloing on the wing edges, that could be the edges themselves. Often primary feathers get beat up and ragged and that could be what’s contributing to the dark line effect. It doesn’t really bother me for that reason. Super job. You could try leaving a little more room at the front of the bird and flipping it horizontally to see if that helps give it a bit more energy.
