House Finch and Allen’s Hummingbird

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Braxton L

Braxton L

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Hi all,
These photos are from my yard yesterday evening. Critiques appreciate. Thanks!
Allen’s Hummingbird.
Canon eos 70d with Sigma 150-600mm C lens. 1/125, f/8, ISO 640. Handheld.
1800.jpeg
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House Finch.
Canon eos 70d with Sigma 150-600mm C lens. 1/200, f/7.1, ISO 640. Handheld.
1800.jpeg
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Both photos have a lot of positives.

The hummingbird is very sharp with the eye in focus and very good feather detail. The clean background looks great. The one significant issue is the bird's head is pointed slightly away from the camera and should be slightly toward the camera. Turning toward the camera would bring the beak into focus. That can make it a lot harder, but at an advanced level is important.

The house finch is also nicely captured. You have a small catchlight in the eye which is important. I can't tell if focus is deep enough in the frame - it seems to go soft around the head. It's nice that you captured the female as she is often overlooked in comparison to the more colorful male. The background is good, but not clean. There are a couple of out of focus leaves coming out from behind the bird's head that are a bit distracting. I'm not sure about the other leaves in the background, but since they are away from the head they don't bother me as much. Ideally the leaves around the head would be cloned out, but if that's not possible neutralizing them with lighter color and softening might help. I also would prefer the head be pointed to the right in the same direction as the body. Having the head in the opposite direction to the body is an awkward posture. Was this bird at your feeder? There are a couple of crumbs on the beak and I would clone them out.

Overall these are both good captures. I look forward to seeing more.
 
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EricBowles said:
Both photos have a lot of positives.

The hummingbird is very sharp with the eye in focus and very good feather detail. The clean background looks great. The one significant issue is the bird's head is pointed slightly away from the camera and should be slightly toward the camera. Turning toward the camera would bring the beak into focus. That can make it a lot harder, but at an advanced level is important.

The house finch is also nicely captured. You have a small catchlight in the eye which is important. I can't tell if focus is deep enough in the frame - it seems to go soft around the head. It's nice that you captured the female as she is often overlooked in comparison to the more colorful male. The background is good, but not clean. There are a couple of out of focus leaves coming out from behind the bird's head that are a bit distracting. I'm not sure about the other leaves in the background, but since they are away from the head they don't bother me as much. Ideally the leaves around the head would be cloned out, but if that's not possible neutralizing them with lighter color and softening might help. I also would prefer the head be pointed to the right in the same direction as the body. Having the head in the opposite direction to the body is an awkward posture. Was this bird at your feeder? There are a couple of crumbs on the beak and I would clone them out.

Overall these are both good captures. I look forward to seeing more.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the feedback! The hummingbird is bothering me too, it never turned directly toward me. As for the finch, the bird was at my feeder. I’ll try to clone out the leaves and the crumbs in a minute. I do have this photo, where the bird is facing the other way. Personally, I like the head angle of the bird, but here’s another angle.
1665694396660.jpeg
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BAL Land said:
Thanks for the feedback! The hummingbird is bothering me too, it never turned directly toward me. As for the finch, the bird was at my feeder. I’ll try to clone out the leaves and the crumbs in a minute. I do have this photo, where the bird is facing the other way. Personally, I like the head angle of the bird, but here’s another angle.
Click to expand...
I like the second image of the finch with the more normal head position. The background ended up a little better with that pose.

The thing about rules is there are always exceptions for artistic purposes. The big thing is knowing the difference and following the preferred pose 90% of the time. The exception is usually for an artistic use while the traditional position is more appropriate for articles, field guides, and birding sites. As to what works as a print, sometimes unconventional poses do well in competitions because they are different, but they can just as likely be rejected out of hand.
 
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