Baltimor Oriole

Keith,
It's always exciting to see the first of any species for the year. I don't know if I've been told this or read it somewhere, that you should try to avoid having a draw in line coming directly from the corner of your composition. The pirch is nice but bothers me a little bit coming directly out of the corner. I would also try and brighten everything up just a little bit (could be my monitor at work). The background is really nice, what is it? If you had stopped down a little bit you might have been able to get the tail in focus as well, say somewhere between f/7.1 and f/10. Lastly, as has been noted to me on my last post, it's important to have some catch light in the eye. Nice capture of a bird that has eluded me. Congrats on this being the first sighting of the year for you. Dave

Comp works just fine for me and I like the placement in the frame. I do think the head/shoulder area could be lightened a tad to bring out a little more detail in the blacks, but this is still a fine image of a lovely bird. Sharon

I think the composition is fine. Lightening up just the eye would make a huge difference I think.

The bird is beautiful with good detail and nice perch. The background is just a bit too clean for me. Ron

Keith,

I just got home and looked at your photo on my home computer and the lighting is much better than my work computer. I really like the lighting now and would only lighten the eye a touch if possible. I really need to adjust my work computer or else I shouild not critique while using it. I still like the background even if it is really clean. Very nice. Dave :

Good pose and certainly no one can say the background or perch is distracting. My concern is that I believe the colors are over saturated, the green and orange look almost neon - my monitor could be part of the problem, as my photos look very different when I view them at my work monitor.

I like the pose and it's sharp where it needs to be. On my end it's a little heavy on contrast.

Great intensity in the colour Keith - maybe lighten the eye a little?

cheers
Rob

I love it Keith! Still waiting to see my first one here.

Keith,

I like the comp and the pose of the Oriole. The colors do look a touch oversaturated on my monitor, I would probably bring that down a touch as well as decreasing the contrast slightly.

I like how well the eye stands out despite being dark in the dark head feathers. I may have gone to f7.1 to get the tail in focus.

It is always wonderful to see the first of the season birds come back.