Wood Pigeon

Back garden today. Hope this isn't too dark
C&C always welcome

D300
300 f2.8 + 1.4TC
1/500s
f4.5
-0.7EV
ISO 1000
Tripod

Very nice portrait Maggie loads of detail and a cracking background





Looks a bit light on my monitor

Bit light but I reckon a verical crop would be better.
JohnR

Right I give up. I'll just go back to printing my images instead. Its a lot less hassle

Maggie
Just try it .When you have half a body in of a bird its always difficult to know what to do with cropping. This shot has enough detail to get some impact with a tighter crop and I think a vertical would suit it better.. Just my humble opinion.
JohnR

A perfect portrait shot Maggie. Well positioned, great sharpness and nice colour pallet. Well done.

I like the framing Maggie, colour and brightness looks about right on my monitor, your blacks and whites on the histogram are spot-on, but a bit more contrast will make it "pop"; pulling the midtone levels to 88-90 ish will do it!

Works for me Maggie ,just move the midtone as Nigel suggests and its spot on !!

Simon

Colour, detail, clarity, sharpness, ALL there Maggie, try Nigels suggestion or a slight tweak in levels might also do it. Just not sure on the comp?

Steve

Maggie, I think John is right about the crop - I'd also lose the "shoulder" on the rhs - looks awkward somehow. Nice bg.

Lots of constructive crits there and should be worked at. I like the simplicity and colours of this well executed image. some nice detail.

Brett

Looks like you've set 'close portrait 'mode on your camera lately.
It's a nicely exposed,sharp image with a good background and I like it.

Phil.

Never give up, Maggie. Imaging is very subjective so just develop (pardon the pun) a thick skin (metaphorically, of course ) and post what YOU like.

I think this kind of portrait works well in landscape format. I might take a bit of the bottom. Exposure and contrast look fine to me.

Cheers

Terry

Hi Maggie - sent you an email private.

You've got the eye one third from the top but you hadn't put it on the intersection with the one third from the right imaginary delineator.

Try it comped that way - it looks a lot easier on the eye.

Sharpness and BG are cracking - nice job

A lovely portrait - you've actually made my least favourite bird look quite beautiful. Super background too.

A lovely image which gives you a number of cropping options. My own personal favourite would be a vertical portrait putting the eye on the top right intersecting thirds. Detail and background are great and dare I say it the bird looks to have a 'happy' face (sorry, a bit of anthropomorphism coming in there).

That’s very nice, in every way. Composition is a very personal concept, if it looks right to you then its right, others may differ. I have always felt that there is a picture in most photographs; it’s just a case of cropping the picture out of the photograph.

Bob.

I like it just the way it is, and colours look fine on my monitor.

David

I have received 3 private e-mails each with the r/h side cropped either in portrait or landscape format and I must say it looks much better. I was trying to lighten my image (as my recent pics have all been too dark) so was concentrating on that and overlooked the composition. When Ian (who was joking) and then JR said this one was too light I just thought - pack it in and find a new hobby - something relaxing.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment and for your constructive criticism which is much appreciated. David T - you have the right attitude - I will NOT give up

'nil carborundum illegitimi' Maggie. Not that there are any on here of course.

It is very hard to get things right in this game, and precious little reward, if any, at least in my case, but I still think it is worth all the effort involved.(well most of the time)