just waiting

User_Removed (Junior Member)

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21 Sep 2009 - 2:16 AM

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Hi Paul
You very nearly had the makings of a good, detailed close-up shot here, but you've made some quite obvious mistakes. I can help you most by being very straight as to what they are.
The composition is very bad. Generally it's desirable to have more space in front of a bird or animal than behind. I've quickly shown this in my mod. Your composition tends to make the bird a secondary subject to the huge area of seating structure.
It would have helped to know what lens you were using, but I'm guessing 300mm or possibly more. The light looks dull so you may have had f5.6 or a little more aperture setting. The bird is quite close so your d.o.f. would have been very small, possibly only 2 to 3 inches, or even less. You caught the focus on the lower wing, when it should have been on the eye and beak. This is tricky and needs practice and experience. However you've used your d.o.f. to diffuse the b/g beautifully, and the pale aqua paint on the iron seats compliments the bird's plumage wonderfully.
Unless it was a single shot of an incredibly rare bird a pro wildlife photographer would bin any shot where the head was turned away from the camera (even if only a couple of degrees). This is very harsh, I know, but it's a shame the birds head wasn't turned slightly toward you; it gives the bird much more aliveness. Also getting the focus sharp on the eye would have made the turned way head a little more acceptable as a reasonably good amateur photo.
Well, having seemingly shredded your image to bits, I will say that once re-composed there is a lot about the shot that I really like, so please feel encouraged by that. And I hope this helps you get future bird pics that you can be well pleased with
All the best
Andrew

Constructive Critique!