Beauty and the (quarrelsome) beast.

AlphaZeroOne · #1 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 05:11 PM

Ok - so its not the best ever but it is the first half decent result that I have had with my DSL and Bigma lens and my first posting here.

I can't get over the sheer beauty of the colours in the this bird. Although not one of my favourites - I hate it's greed and quarrelsome nature - this bird is without doubt a beauty in it's spring plumage!

I would really appreciate any feedback on how this shot could have been improved.

Many thanks

Garden Carpet · #2 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 05:25 PM

I dont know about improvement, seems to me to be a great shot of a great bird. I am always put in mind of the 'wide boy' in his pinstripe suit when I see starlings... um.. and George Melly (think thats his name) the singer.

badgerwatcher · #3 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 07:14 PM

Yes, spot on Jaki, with George Melley.
They always remind me of gangs of bikers.
Great photo, A01

Kerry · #4 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 07:33 PM

Beautiful photo that to me doesn't look as though it needs improving but then I am just a beginner. I would have been well chuffed if I had taken that.

Kerry

eeyore · #5 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 08:06 PM

its a very nice shot - the only improvement i would suggest would be not to crop so tight on the right hand side - as a general principle pics like this work better if there is some space for the subject to "look into"

being hyper critical you could also have used a more uniform background as the brown line growing out of its back is slightly distracting - this could probably be cloned out in photoshop but it is generally easier to avoid it in camera if possible - I sometimes hang bits of camoflage netting a few feet behind my perches as these blur out and look like uniform gereen vegetation inshots like this

Hobjob · #6 (**permalink**) 05-03-2007, 09:26 AM

I would be well chuffed with that, its beautifully sharp and rich, but I would very slightly regret the cutting off of two claws - was that in cropping or at the moment of taking the photo?

DaiTheDragon · #7 (**permalink**) 05-03-2007, 11:20 AM

To be honest there's not much wrong with this image at all, just a few minor details.
I hope you don't mind but I very bored with nothing to do. I modified your image a bit to give you an idea how it could have been improved, but as I say you should be quite happy with the original.

Dai

nightshade · #8 (**permalink**) 05-03-2007, 03:12 PM

A handsome bird well photographed

HowlinWolf · #9 (**permalink**) 05-03-2007, 03:35 PM

A couple of things could make an improvement, and these would be at the moment of exposure. The angled branch at the left of the frame is distracting. Waiting for the bird to move to the right would eliminate this. Also, a blip of fill-in flash would lighten the shadows (don't overdo this: set the flash to underexpose around 2 stops) and put a catch-light in the eye.
Otherwise, the pose is good, and the background is nicely blurred.

HW

AlphaZeroOne · #10 (**permalink**) 05-03-2007, 06:34 PM

Just a word of thanks to everyone who were kind enough to provide such constructive feedback. Its amazing but it's not until someone else points out things like branchs in the background, missing claw, fill in flash etc, that I even noticed. There is so much to learn.

Thanks for you work on blurring the background Dai, and your work on the claws. What is most surprising is that I don't think that I got them in the first place when I took the shot! Not much time to frame it due to the fact that there was an almighty scrap going on over the remains of a fat block on the feeder.

HW - thanks for your feedback - very technical and evidence of how far I have yet to travel. I have no idea how I would even set a flash - I assume that you are refering to an external flash. I did think that the image looked a bit flat especially around the eyes.

Anyway - many thanks again to everyone - can't wait to have another bash.