The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The robins built a nest under our sunroom last year and we enjoyed seeing both the female and the male feeding their nestlings. I set up the tripod and hid around the corner with my cable release. I knew mama was coming because the babies suddenly got very noisy. I took lots of photos, and processing them made me smile .
Technical Details
This was taken at with my Canon 80D with a 70-200 lens, 1/250 and f5.6. There is a significant crop.
I used Lightroom Classic to process. I have since gotten a Canon R6 with a 100-400 lens and since the robins are back, I would like to try again with my new camera and lens.
I am learning Photoshop and the TK8 panel through Sean Bagshaw’s wonderful tutorials. I would like to try and process this with Photoshop using luminosity masks.
Hi Mary Dean and welcome to NPN. What a dynamic family you’ve got on your hands. We had some robins nesting on the underside of our deck one year and oh…what a mess. The phoebes are a bit tidier. Great opportunities to watch the little ones grow. And with new gear, too! Excellent. Post more as you get them - it will be fun to see.
Good sharpness in the most visible birds - both eyes look good and that open mouth! Poor worms, down the hatch you’ll go. The colors, while a bit saturated for my taste, look to be the right shades for the adult. You could safely dial back the saturation overall - especially the blue that has come up on the babies and the coverts of the adult.
And speaking of coverts…too bad about the tail. I hate it when I cut off someone’s tail! Including all of it would definitely be better. Also pulling up on the blacks some will improve - it’s quite contrasty for my taste, but that’s just me. In terms of processing, you could go a bit further and really pull down on the color in the wood to better highlight the nest and the birds.
Phew! Hope that wasn’t too negative. It really is an exciting and uplifting picture of one of our most endearing birds.
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Hi Kristen, thank you for your valuable input. Not too negative at all, I appreciate another set of eyes and somone elses thoughts (instead of just my husband). I am new here and want to learn. I will re-edit with your suggestions and see how it looks. Thanks for the site tips as well!
Mary Dean, welcome to NPN! You’ve got a great action shot here with the worm and the wide open mouths of the babies. The colors look pretty good to me, with the exception of too much blue in the shadows. (Some of that is natural, since it’s a reflection of the sky, but the human brain compensates for that so we don’t usually notice it during live viewing.) Cuttiing off the male’s tail can be a defect, but that depends on your intent. If it’s clearly deliberate, as in going even tighter to further emphasize the open mouths and the worm, then it’s likely to be okay. When it looks accidental, then it’s more problematic. Robin’s tend to be somewhat human tolerant, so you might be able to set your camera up closer (with a longer cable release) while you stay out of sight.
Thanks for the critique Mark, I can appreciate your thoughts about the crop. If I kept the birds tail the photo would include a relatively large yellow pool skimmer pole that the robins built the nest on. I tried removing, darkening, and otherwise disguising the pole with little success. Hence the crop, and as you mentioned I really liked the open mouths and the worm. I can play with the crop more to get a more pleasing image. Thanks again for your input, much appreciated!
