Song sparrow in a large puddle

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eft

Well-known member
Delta, BC Nov 20 - I shot this song sparrow in cloudy conditions with my D500+200-500m. Used single point to focus on the head. 1/1600 at f/5.6 ISO 900 (RAW). Cropped for composition, rotated slightly to make ripples "horizontal". Adjusted tone and WB in LR, then NR w/Topaz DeNoise. I've attached the original below.

Any and all critique welcome.


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I love this photo but I would like to see a little more space on top and on the right. -
Thank you for taking the time to provide this suggestion! I tried adding more space to the right but the blurred blade of grass detracted from the sparrow.


Very nice photo, as is
Thanks for the feedback!

Whoa…I love this photo…I love whatever you did to it…whoa! It’s a song sparrow! Good for you!
Thanks for the feedback!
 
OK, full disclosure: I'm being picky here but perhaps that's what you're looking for. Firstly, I like the shot. Your original shows you have quite a bit of crop room with which to work. Accordingly, I might reduce the crop somewhat, specifically to emphasize the complete concentric circles of the water's ripples so as to give more of a sense of framing. Admittedly, that brings the errant blade of grass more into play (you could at least partially heal that out). Secondly, and this may be more for the next shot rather than this one, but is there scope, or do you have another shot, where you could have got a bit lower as I think it would heighten the level of connection with the sparrow's reflection? I know it's wet...seriously wet...as I think we're in the same neck of the woods as each other. Lastly, given the flatter light perhaps experiment with a B&W rendering, though the muted browns of the sparrow are appealing?
 
OK, full disclosure: I'm being picky here but perhaps that's what you're looking for. Firstly, I like the shot. Your original shows you have quite a bit of crop room with which to work. Accordingly, I might reduce the crop somewhat, specifically to emphasize the complete concentric circles of the water's ripples so as to give more of a sense of framing. Admittedly, that brings the errant blade of grass more into play (you could at least partially heal that out). Secondly, and this may be more for the next shot rather than this one, but is there scope, or do you have another shot, where you could have got a bit lower as I think it would heighten the level of connection with the sparrow's reflection? I know it's wet...seriously wet...as I think we're in the same neck of the woods as each other. Lastly, given the flatter light perhaps experiment with a B&W rendering, though the muted browns of the sparrow are appealing?
Thanks Marcus - I appreciate all those suggestions and picky is indeed what I was looking for. It would be great to decrease the crop to include more of the ripples, provided the bird doesn't look too small and I can deal with the blade of grass without the image looking too doctored. The burst I got was all from the same height and I knew it would have been better to be lower to the ground but I didn't think I could have moved without causing the sparrow to fly off. The other thing is that the size of the reflection would be diminished the lower I got and I quite like that the vegetation below the surface is visible in the outline of the reflection. Ideally, I would have been able to use a smaller aperture to increase the depth of field but the conditions/camera didn't allow for that.
 
Delta, BC Nov 20 - I shot this song sparrow in cloudy conditions with my D500+200-500m. Used single point to focus on the head. 1/1600 at f/5.6 ISO 900 (RAW). Cropped for composition, rotated slightly to make ripples "horizontal". Adjusted tone and WB in LR, then NR w/Topaz DeNoise. I've attached the original below.

Any and all critique welcome.
Click on thumbnail to see original image
View attachment 27853
Great subject matter, fairly good lighting, and the bird is nice and sharp. I also like the mirrored image in the water, and the ripples. My only suggestions would be to allow much more space around the bird, and to try to place it off center, using the standard "rule of thirds". Otherwise, nice work!
 
I really like it, and your openness to people’s comments! I would be interested to see how it looked with the plane between the reflections exactly half way up the frame to emphasise the symmetry. If you were in addition to try to place the bird to the left hand third you would cut out the circle of reflections and so you may have to go for a similar position to the above, but with scope to move the bird a little to the left and achieve more of a complete ripple on the right. Another concept you can bear in mind is “keeping the eye of the viewer in the image” that may help in finalising the bird and ripple position by keeping a complete ripple right and left to prevent the eye escaping! Anyway all that said it’s a beezer (aka excellent) and I’d be interested in how you get on. I love great images of “ordinary” birds! Thanks.
 
Great subject matter, fairly good lighting, and the bird is nice and sharp. I also like the mirrored image in the water, and the ripples. My only suggestions would be to allow much more space around the bird, and to try to place it off center, using the standard "rule of thirds". Otherwise, nice work!
Thanks for the feedback. I was a bit stuck for space to the right of the bird because of the foreground blade of grass that I wanted to exclude as it is distracting. I did use the "rule of thirds" following @Steve's guideline:

Although I’m not overly concerned about part of a body taking up the center part of the frame, I like to keep the critter’s eyes towards the “thirds” of the frame whenever possible.


I really like it, and your openness to people’s comments! I would be interested to see how it looked with the plane between the reflections exactly half way up the frame to emphasise the symmetry. If you were in addition to try to place the bird to the left hand third you would cut out the circle of reflections and so you may have to go for a similar position to the above, but with scope to move the bird a little to the left and achieve more of a complete ripple on the right. Another concept you can bear in mind is “keeping the eye of the viewer in the image” that may help in finalising the bird and ripple position by keeping a complete ripple right and left to prevent the eye escaping! Anyway all that said it’s a beezer (aka excellent) and I’d be interested in how you get on. I love great images of “ordinary” birds! Thanks.
Thanks for the response and, in particular, for appreciating that I used a common species in my example. I could have used a more exotic bird (like a house finch ;)) but I figured a song sparrow would make it easier to critique. It would have been great to include more ripples but again I was constrained by a blade of grass that would have been included if I had reduced the crop.

All the comments have been great and I will definitely keep them in mind in the future.
 
It's nice I like the subject and composition. I think I would try to use the ellipse tool in LRC and bring the shadow up a bit around the face specifically the eye. It looks like there is a little twinkle hiding in there. to bring some life.
Thanks for the idea!
 
Delta, BC Nov 20 - I shot this song sparrow in cloudy conditions with my D500+200-500m. Used single point to focus on the head. 1/1600 at f/5.6 ISO 900 (RAW). Cropped for composition, rotated slightly to make ripples "horizontal". Adjusted tone and WB in LR, then NR w/Topaz DeNoise. I've attached the original below.

Any and all critique welcome.


View attachment 27852

Click on thumbnail to see original image
View attachment 27853
Given the grass problem I very much like what you have done with this. I wouldn't change a thing.

JIM
 
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eft you are an absolute master with that rig! :D
Thank you - those are very generous words. I credit my mentors like @Steve and the camera store rep that advised me that the D500 and 200-500mm lens was a solid combo for my budget. Those factors helped me enjoy each time I head out to the field, which I have done probably every other day for the past two years. So, knowledge, equipment and experience.
 
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