MiRea's Realm
is an invitation only group within Flickr where photographers from around
the world gather to show off their work and have it evaluated by other
members
of the Realm. Prior to posting their first picture into the
group's pool each member must evaluate this photograph and give it a ranking
from 1 to 7.
Below is the comments left by members of the group, and are listed
here alphabetically, for their ease of use when participating within the
Realm.
Pre Alphabetic Nicks
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the bird is on the center of the composition, the sign on which the bird stands is somehow "stealing" my attention. cropping is needed to make the subject strikes better. |
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Sharp and crisp but there could be more to it. |
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very nice use of DOF, colours and contrast... but the huge bg destroy all of it... very sad indeed. The crop is a must, crop should take care of the white part in the bottom left, it kinda distracting. Anyway crop will make it very nice pic when this one already have a very nice DOF and colours... If it is a good crop i would rae it 6/7 for the pic. |
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From the MiRea's Realm Group, you are given a 4_/7 ranking. The thing the bird is perching on is distracting. I would agree as said above to a crop... ;) |
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i would like this image much more if the bird filled the frame and dominated the picture... as it is, it shares the picture with the metal object on which it is sitting... i get the sense the photographer wanted to center the bird to compensate for its small size, and, to do so, had to include in the image whatever it is that the bird is sitting on--but that thing, whatever it is, overwhelms the image and ruins the mood... i also prefer a little more contrast... |
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The one thing that immediately caught my eye are the brilliant blue colors of the birds wing. Therefore I would go for a really tight crop around the bird. The rest of the pic is not adding anything. One flaw may be the shadow over the birds head, which makes it a little unsharp. |
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Not an unique picture. The wow factor in the picture is solely because of the bird than the composition and other elements in the picture. |
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i know how hard is to capture such a moment in nature and i think that it's always nice to apreciate the photographer's patience :) the composition is an effect of coincidence i guess. i think that the bird is the main object of this shot, and not the background :) |
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This is such a great, sharp, capture but the bird needs to be more prominent. Cropping would greatly improve the composition and also allow the bird itself to be larger in the frame so we can see the detail. A tight crop with bird towards the bottom right could also minimise the distraction of the sign, reducing the remaining portion to an abstract simple shape. I think the trickier improvement would be to make the subject stand out better from his background. Defocusing the background would help a lot, but this might not have been possible. I'd do it in Photoshop. As it stands, sorry but it misses the mark for me ... |
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What I like: The subject - Birds are my favorite
subjects because of the challenges the present to the photographer and
the reward of doing them well. They require loads of time and patients
to get right. Color - The color here looks natural and is not over
saturated or muddy. What I would work on:
Focus The focus in this shot looks to me like it is on the birds back and feet, not on the eye and beak where it should be. DOF The background is too buys to be as sharp as it is. A narrower depth of field would improve this shot dramatically by blurring out the background and making it less distracting. Composition The subject is too centered and too far away; The object the bird is sitting on is extremely distracting and out of place in the picture. (this is where the patience and time come in) |
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The background is too busy and the sign is heavy causing the eye to try to decipher between the two. Had the subject not been so varied in tone your eye would be drawn there. The crisp focus on the bird is good, but the shadow on his head diminishes head coloration. |
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Very lucky to have such a bird in front of you...here in Coventry UK this would be a miracle... Techniqally I would prefer to see the bird from a different angle But asometimes you cannot do nothing as far as angle is concerned since you cannot ask the bird to pose for you...luck is an important factor when shooting birds...As far as lightning is concerned I like that it faces the source of light so its colors look nice and natural... Artistically speaking the picture is not communicating any emotions and that is something i allways expect...probably its the composition that if altered in a more effective way it would have given much more satisfactory results... From the MiRea's Realm Group, you are given a 5/7 ranking. |
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the bird i crisp and nicely lit. cool colors but that is the nicest feature for me. I don't like the composition the bird is too centered and the blurry green background is distracting, to cloose in colour with the bird i guess. such a big sign doesn't add much either i guess so maybe cropping and moving the bird to the right should help. |
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I love the contrast given by the sharpness of the bird against the background, but agree that some cropping is necessary. The composition is spoilt slightly by the object the bird is perching on. It's a lovely bird in excellent focus, but the image could have used a bit more work to put more emphasis on this. |
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Just say sorry because I didn't do that before! The bird is really focused, but I've could try to do that one quite closer to it.You got a good moment, I guess that it was while you were looking for a picture but in another way. It is a nice shot, but maybe is just that, It doesn't produce any impact on the watcher. |
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The bird is the main attraction on this picture. It was beautifully portraiyed, so that you can see its colours and details. I think for that reason, the photo might be cropped more tightly, so that we could concentrate on the bird and not being distracted by all the other objects around him. For me, the object he landed on really creates a distraction from the bird, because it's so contrasting, which such b&w colours and it almost menaces to let everything else pale. This is the most disturbing aspect of the picture in my opinion: you want to admire the bird and that object keeps atracting you eyes to it. |
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Beautiful crisp and clear take, which gets lost in all that background. Easily solved by cropping, for which there are several possibilities. Did you think of presenting it at nearly original size? |
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good focus, etc.. but i really don't feel anything anymore with technical good photos. For me a photo is more then the technics. and in this case, it's just a bird... cheers! |
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I think it need a crop to improve the blue jay, the DOF aid to resalt the bird. The light is really good and give good color in bird and leafs, but the head is a bit dark, and about compostition, I think it is centered and that don't help. Also there is too much sign. |
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Well, without reading much of the comments posted above, I take the liberty to say that this is not a memorable shot. First on a shot like this you have to focus the object better, which in this case was not the case. The second which comes as a consequence of the first thing is that innevitably, there is too much background while the think were the birds stand (which I don`t know what it actually is) makes the pic even worse. |
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The details of the bird is nice and the bokeh is just great! There are some reflections of the tail in the sign that really adds to the photo too. However I feel its a bit overexposed and the composition could be better. Maybe a nice crop would do? Overall a nice shot! |
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I would prefer less d o f throwing the background right out, and a tighter crop. The sign is fine, it's just that the background demands too much attention. However capturing wildlife is never easy so I still like the shot. |
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I would like to see a cropped version, the bird is too small compared to the mottled background and the distracting harsh white part of the sign (or whatever it is) that he's sitting on. It's hard to get a pose, and I like the sharpness of the bird, but find it is a pity that shadow behind blends in a bit with the head! |
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I like the bird on the post, however there is way to much background. If it were brought it tighter it would make the subject pop and bring out better detail. |
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I think the photo is nice, with the blurred background, but it needs to be cropped to focus more on the Bluejay. Otherwise, it is clean, clear, and colorful. |
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I have to agree on the crop, the bird is very beautiful, nice crisp capture, nice DOF towards the green, pity about the sign he is sitting on. Get that D70, oops no, get that Canon 20D (it's my favorite cam..) |
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love the lighting. love the DOF |
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Its a nice capture, but I also agree with the crop suggestions. I particularly think the crop should emphasize the left side since the Jay is looking in that direction. |
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good pic. Real crisp and sharp. The background colour and focus is good too. the signpost (or whatever its standing on) does perhaps feature too much, but this still is really good. |
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While this is not a bad picture, it is not great either. the background especially with the very bright and darker areas are distracting. Plus the subject that he is perched on distracts. I ended up focusing more on what that was than anything else in the picture. |
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I think the lighting, colors, and DoF are all fine in this shot. The major thing that detracts from it, in my view, is the overall composition. I think the sign is very distracting. I couldn't stop looking at it, and I didn't think it was very pretty. And I think the bird, while very sharply defined, is swallowed by the background, ultimately. The picture seems to me to be a collision of different things, and because of the sign's distracting presence, suggests (this may be a stretch) the corruption of nature. I am sure this was not the original intention behind the shot. Anyway, the bird definitely is a pretty bird. As many have noted, a dramatic crop would greatly improve this. |
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the interest here for me is with the bird only. I feel the bird is to central and too lost in the picture. Maybe cropping closer on the bird, revealing more of its details, and blurring the background would help. A great potential subject though. |
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I like the colors and the DOF..but that's all. the background is distracting and the composition dosen't help to focus on the bird, try a different crop. |
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The only thing I don't like about this photo is the thing the bird is sitting on. It's taking too much space in the photo. |
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I really love the colors and the clarity of the jay. However as far as being very interesting it really is not that amazing to me. It has a lot of potential but is not the most amazing bird picture I have seen. |
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To catch a bluejay in focus is quite a feat in and of itself. Great catch! The blue is great; it's a shame the bird's face is somewhat in shadow, but that's the chance you take shooting animals. Prudent cropping would increase the drama of the photo. I found the background distracting. Cropping would probably help that somewhat, but I don't think it would completely solve the problem. If the background were more burred, it would probably be less distracting. It's interesting that the background right around the bird's face just happened to be lighter. It attracts the eye to the bird's face, even though it's slightly in shadow. If this were my photo and I wanted to try to make it better, I'd probably use PS to blur and fade the background a little more (and crop, of course). I think a faded and/or more blurred background would allow the bird to stand out more. I like the sign ... it's an interesting contrast to the "natural" bird and trees. How close were you? It looks like that bird is staring right at you :) It's amazing he sat still long enough to snap the picture! |
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It is overall a great shot. I would probably crop some of the green tree out, which seems to be a bit too much negative space that distracts from the bird. |
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I skipped over the other's comments. I greatly enjoyed the use of color in the photo - the juxtoposition of the blue with the bright green background. However, I think the bird is too small and the white object it's standing on is distracting and unattractive. I enjoyed the crisp detail of the bird. I just wish that either the photo was zoomed in closer or cropped. |
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Great shot, but it should be all about the bird and the bird and the bokeh. The sign is a minor distraction. What do you think about a portrait crop? Would it work? Overall, I think your a maestro when it comes to aperture. This pic is a stunner viewed large. Keep up the great work! :) |
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To Start with, very nice capture. I must agree with the cropping as well, although not at much as others have suggested, I would like to see the rusty bolt at the top of the sign gone. I think it brings down the 'mood' of the photo. The Bluejays colours have come out beatifully and look very crisp to the eye. I'm also a fan of not centering the main focus point. I think cropping so the bird is on the right would give it a greater effect. |
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The bokeh is nice and creamy = plus The zoom is lacking = minus Crop is mediocore = minus Color is great = plus Sharp = plus Basically, to improve I would have liked to see a more zoomed in shot. |
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I like the sharpness of the focus here and the DoF. Clear subject less distinct background. Bright area of foliage in background highlights the area of most interest. Would prefer to see bird (subject) take more of the frame with less of the distracting background, and for the bird to be maybe towards the right side of shot rather than so centered. A closer shot would also mean seeing less of the sign, it doesn't add any interest to shot for me |
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Beautifully sharp bird, but the background and the signal are distracting. As it is, the picture can improve a lot by just croping it so the bird gets all the attention it deserves. |
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Nice color, I like how sharp the bird looks. I generally am pretty forgiving in my ratings, I don't like to be too negative or be too critical because I don't a whole lot about photography. |
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I do not agree that the bird is lost in the background,
in fact the bird standsout from the light background, almost liks a shillouette;
however, the brightness and large amount of background overwealms the bird.
The colour of the background competes with the colour of the bird.
The camera focus is fine, but the focus of the shot is missing. "We " look
for more. he bird is lost in the "space." The meaning is obscure
to me. I feel, did I mis something here? ie, it just doesn't grab my imagination.
Light is one of the main tools a photo has to attract the viewer; here
the use of light is poor.
The pose and attitude of the bird is great. I am not sure cropping it will help. other shots of birds with ample background space have worked fine. |
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I like the picture. Might crop it to get rid of some of the sign,centering the focus on da bird with 5/8 bright DOF just below center revealing less of the sign. Sharp focus and good DOF. Wildlife's unpredictable, photog did a good job! from the MIRea's Realm -I'd give it a 4/7. |
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I like this photo, but agree with everyone else that it needs to be cropped. The focus is obviously intended to be on the bird, but he gets lost in a sea of greenery and signage. I tend to like to see things way up close, so I want to see MUCH more of the bird in the frame. Otherwise, the DOF is gorgeous and the focus on the bird is nice and crisp... just bring him closer to us so he commands the frame! |
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My first comment is about composition and framing. The centered bird on top of the sign is not adding anything special to the picture. The light in the background has nearly the same level as the bird leaving all the strength of the picture to the DOF. |
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Ok, here's mine. I tried not to read anyone else's, so
this will be MY review. I feel like this shot is just average.
I prefer wildlife shots with either really close crops or in an environment/setting
that is interesting. In this case, the bird isn't cropped very closely
AND the setting is just not that interesting.
There's too much of the sign for my tastes. The bird isn't quite sharp enough for my tastes. The bright green background distracts instead of complements. The light is uneven on the bird - it would be great if the little guy's face were in the sun instead of shadow. |
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My comments echo many others in the thread. When viewing the photo in the largest format, the details of the bird is great, but the sign takes the attention away from the bird. The DOF is great but a closer shot would improve the photograph tremendously. |
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It is a nice photograph however the background is somehwhat distracting as is the sign it is sitting on (and not natural). Too much background and not enough bird - needs cropping. Bright light and strong shadows detract a little as well. |
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I think it's a great capture of the bird. Very crisp blues. That would bump the score up. There is no control over what the bird is perched on so I can overlook that when it comes to a score. The green background is nice, but so much of it distracts my eye. 5/7 I agree with what others have said about having more time to think and study a picture results in a more thought out rating as opposed to a quick "Yea" or "Nay" based on a glance. |
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The detail is good, but it doesn't grab your attention. Cropping would help. |
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Basically, I really like the photo, and appreciate the ability to get a nice, sharp image of a frequently moving subject. There are some things that might make the image jump out at me more effectively. I think cropping would help, placing the bluejay lower and right of center in the image (since it is looking to the left). The contrast of the image seems a little flat to me. Perhaps more contrast and a little more stauration so the blue of the bird is stronger...Dof is nice, but distracting for me when there is so much background....I'd like to see the beautiful jay prominent in this photo.... |
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It is hard to say anything that hasn't been said before this. I agree that the framing could be helped with a better crop. The bird is in focus and its colors are really bright. I like wildlife pictures so I tend to be a little bias towards them. |
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I a fan of birds picture so I like it... But I still hesitate about the crop : is it the good one or do you have to listen to the suggestion of YnR. I still don't know ? |
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The photo has a good DoF, but it's lacking a composition that would make it really good. It seems a bit awkward - as a better composition could have been chosen for this shot. Centered doesn't work. The clairty is nice and so is the lighting in the background and on the bird |
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The bird is a wonderful subject and clearly displayed; however, the foliage in the background is distracting and a little overbearing. The rooftop on the left pulls the eyes in that direction, bu there is little that can be done about this. I would have liked to have seen the contrast between the bird and trees being more pronounced. Cropping would definitely help. I suppose that my ultimate thought is whether I wish I had taken this photo myself. I would be happy to have such a photo in my collection, but it definitely would not stand out in any way at all. |
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Good: sharp focus, colors of the bird and the DOF Minus: Too much sign, closer crop needed, bird's face is partly shaded |
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The bird is nice and crisp, and I am guessing the colour is as good as you can get with a blue jay (not being North American myself). The background unfortunately takes up too much of the shot, blurriness can be fine, but there are virtually acres of it behind the bird. Finally, the sign to the lower left is too prominent. Cropping this shot, or zooming in to the bird closer, if that were a possibility, would easily have added 1.5 points on my score. |
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The very crisp and well lit bird is no doubt a good take but it is far too centred . By the way the background is way too much to make this score higher. |
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It's a nice bird's portrait. I agree with the crop, too. The focus is great. Beautiful colours of the bird,contrasting with the background. I'd like to see Bluejoy taking a bigger portion of the photo.The "perch" doesn't help. |
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In Indiana blue jays don't migrate and neither do cardinals. They are a beautiful splash of color in the winter. This is a lovely capture of a beautiful jay. |
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Technically the photo is below average. You were unlucky for the bird to land on an unattractive object. Then the background of trees was full of hot spots. The bird is too central and the Rule of Thirds may have helped but I fully understand that birds are birds and very little time to compose a good composition. In this case maybe near impossible. If time and lens permitted I would have zoomed in on the bird and changed to an angle not to show so much of the sign and hot spot behind the head. I would have walked to the photo left and had the background with the darker area. Then I was not there to look at conditions so overall good for the capture, below average for the photo on technical grounds. |
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I like the focus on the bird but don't care for the composition. I might try a horizontal crop with the bird closer to the right side. Play around with it and see what you're comfortable with. |
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I have to agree with what has been said already. The bird is beautiful, and a wonderful subject for a shot. You never tell what birds will do next so getting a shot as clear as these is a positive achievement to start. I really like the clarity of the shot, and the DoF, however I find the sign distracting, and feel an off-centre composition would do more for this beautiful bird. I would agree with the tighter crop suggestions. |
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I feel the bluebird could of been crop tighter,using a long lens would of help here,also the birds perch is not helping the picture at all.The blue of the bird and the green of the tree really makes the bird stand out. Its just an ok photo. |
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Okay, so I have many thoughts on this picture. First off, let me say that the bird is perfect. Lovely and elegant in many ways. Now my dislikes: I think that the photo should be cropped, not just a small one, but one that eliminates most of the surrounding picture which I find bothering and pointless. It doesn't help convey the message, so why have it? Also, the sign or whatever the bird is sitting on, well how do I put it... I don't like it. It doesn't fit with the photo, but of course you couldn't really change that. The bird went and sat wherever it wanted to go and sit. But I think the lighting is perfect for this photo, because there are no strong shadows, and the bird is illuminated nicely! The contrast between the bird's blue color and the green behind it, is also great. It helps bring out the bird, in its true nature and color. Nice shot all in all. |
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PROS: I like the DOF & foliage relief (tad bright
for contrast but...) The subject is in good focus. Colours,
esp. tail & wing tip feathers, are vibrant and true.
CONS: The composition needs attention; subject is overwhelmed. The sign is distracting. Detail has been lost in the hot spots on breast and shoulder. The shadow, specifically on the jay's head, detracts from the eye and energy of the jay. Finally and most of all (forgive me - I'm not intending to be harsh) ... ... it lacks singularity or character, it fails to rise above the mundane. The photographer is absent. |
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Nice shot of an interesting bird. I'd prefer a closer crop with the bird right of centre looking into the frame (too many tags on the picture to meaningfully add another) Focus is pretty good but a shallower DOF would help to minimise the distracting background (as would the tighter crop). From a lighting point of view the birds face is in shadow and other parts, shoulder & breast are over exposed. The wings however are spot on. I'm not wild about the road sign, but hey you've got to grab these pictures where ever you can. |
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Overall a pretty good shot. The bird's wing has some great detail and wonderful color. Would have liked to see it cropped a little bit closer. |
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I have to agree with most about the crop the blue jay gets a little lost. I like the sign and the detail of the jay...a crop would solve it. |
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Composition is bad, the bird is in the middle of the photo and it is very small. The DOF is alright, but the road sign under the bird kills completly the pic. |
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This is hard. I decided on two things before doing this:
1) I do not read the other evaluations 2) I look at this picture
as if it came out my own camera
I definetely like the bird. I don't know anything about them, so this could be a very common bird, but that doesn't matter to me. The capture is good. It shows the frailty of a small bird. On the other hand I find myself kind of squinting to see it right, and that makes the picture less attractive. Also, there is no sharp contrast between the colour of the bird and the background. That also makes it harder to see the bird. The sign is not very nice either. What would I do about it? I think I would crop. I would start with removing as much as possible of the sign. That would put the bird in the bottom left corner, which I like. I mean I like subjects to be off-center. The added advantage is that your eyes are immediately drawn to the subject and the lack of colour contrast wouldn't be such a problem. I would also cut off a large amount of the background greenery. It has not essential function and is too blurry. All the cropping would increase the bird's size and improve the visibility. The bird is sharp enough to allow that, I think. |
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Nice timing and pretty nice exposure. The blown out portions of the bird could be darkened. The contrast seems about right. Do not like the composition at all though. The subject is centered with lots of unnecessary information surrounding the bird. A tighter crop with the bird placed in the right side of the frame would make this shot a 5 out of 7. As it is I would have to give it a 3/7 ranking. It's potential makes it weaker. |
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Good DOF and colors in this one, but I am not excited about the subject, and the item the bird is standing on is ugly as well as boring. Additionally, the sign area is in a shadow, which adds to it's ugliness/boringness. Good detail and light on the bird, but he's in the center of the frame!! To make it more interesting, keep him off to the side, or above or below the center of the frame. That's pretty much all I got on this one! |
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This picture has a nice balance between blue (the brid) and green (the background). But the bird is centered, small in the total area of the picture, the subject is a bit cliche, and it doesn't evoke an emotion in me (which I think does make a snaphot a photographic artwork). This emotion does not have to be strictly positive, as long as it evokes that emotion. |
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I usually don't like to center the subject of my photos, but in this case it works well. The sign acts as an anchor - creating negative space and drawing the eye to the bird. Nice detail and good sharpness. I'd bump up the satuation a bit and I do think the crop could be a bit tighter - the trees/leaves in the background could me minimized a little. But overall, not a bad photo. |
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good dof and focus definately could use a tighter crop. Nothing exceptional going on and wouldn't be my cup of tea, but a nice bird capture none the less |
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I like the shot but I do agree that it needs a tight crop with as much of the sign as possible cropped out. While the background is a little too busy, with a tight crop that increases the prominence of the bird, the background might not be a problem. If, after a tight crop, the background remains a distraction, you could try to blur it a bit. |
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The first things which came up in me were: not enough cropping and the sign is disturbing, does not fit in the picture. Too much light on the bird, although the bird is beautiful! |
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I really love how well-defined the bluejay is. Bird shots are really tough! I would like a tighter crop to show off the stunning bird. Beautiful capture. |
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The bird is in focus, with controlled DOF to separate it from the background, but that is all it has going for it. On the downside, the shot is too loose, and the background is lighter than the subject, so the small bird gets lost in the frame. |
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The light on the bird is nice, and it's nice to see all of the animal. However, the photo would be better if the extra space above and below was removed and the bird placed to one side of the frame. |
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Overall impression is "pretty good shot". I'm liking the detail of the bird itself, and the colors. One of the suggested crops would make this a "good shot" verging on a "great shot". DOF is good as-is. |
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Really, a great deal of words are said about technical
aspect of this pic!I would like to clarify the concept and the Artistic
level of this work!
And I don"t see any concept in this pic! What's the purpose of this photo, exept of such general (and that"s why - banal!) idea as to stop the moment???! I don"t see any interesting (or additional!) idea... Yes, I don"t see any captivating concept! Or - well, perhaps, "tiny" story!!! OK! You can say me - that's enough to stop the moment! Well,I agree. May be... But! Then - please, stop the motion of the moment... Please, stop, it"s "aroma", it's smell, it"s fragrance... Well, it"s music! It's sadness or it"s joy... So - please, transfer Your own feelings of the moment through this pic! And transfer it in a such ARTsy way, that... my heart would be pierced! Or my own hands start trembling - well, to make a fav! In a word, emotionally "full-bodied" photo is always intoxicating! Alas,emotionally that's just quite cold pic! There is no Energy inside it! Besides, it"s quite banal in it"s concept, as I already mentioned! Sorry, but it doesn"t touch or "infect" me emotionally - at all! |
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Excellent capture of the jay in terms of sharpness and DOF, but the composition is fairly unoriginal, and includes too much sign and too much background. Color is also a bit bright on the bird's breast. |
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The bird in this photo is beautiful, sharp and well-caught. It's unfortunate that it's perched on a street sign. I would suggest a much closer crop so that the only part of the perch remaining in the photo is simply the very silver top. |
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okay - this one is tough, because I know how hard it can be to catch those little critters before they scamper and/or flutter away. So that capture in itself is good. However, the framing bothers me. The bird is dead-center in the frame, and the crop makes it feel like there is a lack detail when there is, in fact, some great detail to be seen here. I'm also not fond of the perch, but you've got to take a shot when you see it, right? The color is strong, but a few simple tweaks could have chilled out the very intense washout created by the overexposure. But then again, not everyone has decent editing software... So all in all, from the MiRea's Realm Group, you are given a 5/7 ranking... You don't need fancy software to make a good crop, but on the postive side, you DO need to be READY to take a shot when it presents itself... And that is well executed here. |
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The basics are all right there, done well. The open aperture was used effectively for isolating the bird, focus is excellent, and the exposure looks just right. On the downside, the subject suffers a bit from the direction and intensity of the light, causing that distracting shadow across it's head, as well as some harshness in the highlights, and for me the composition doesn't emphasize the bird enough. I would prefer a closer shot. Since others have given their cropping suggestions, I will do likewise. For me, the sign is an important part of the photo as the bird's perch and as a block of different colors, so if I were to crop in the same format, instead of trying to minimize it I would include all of the sign, with the bird in the upper right corner of the photo. That would get rid of some of the excess background greenery, lead my eye to the subject, and give more of an impression that the bird is looking at something or perhaps getting ready to fly. |
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I like the sharp colours of the bird, although I would prefer a closer crop. there is a good Depth of field. |
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Just to put it out there - I tend to rate phots on how they impact me rather than the technical side - as I am just learning the craft myself. I do appreciate constructive criticism, and will try to offer some as well. That being said, I agree with mireas' crop suggestion, leaving the jay on the left - I think the hints of blue in the background would highlight the bird... but I really like the shot! |
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elTwitcho says: It doesn't do much for me. Central compositions don't always work and in this case it doesn't. The composition feels static and the box thing is absolutely irksome. For technical merit it gets some marks because it is in focus, well exposed, sharp and the DOF is effective, but artistically it doesn't really have any impact on me. |
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I like the subject and the focus but the bird is too small and he is standing on an object that is not attractive or colourful. Its position is not very good too. But I really really like that bird, his colours and posture |
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Bird's way too small and too much of the space's taken up by other irrelvant subjects, e.g. the curved bin-like ledge. Main subject's also looking away from the camera. Though it may work for some pics, it definitely doesn't for this, making it look like a really hasty snapshot. Too improve whatever we can on this picture, I would suggest a crop, to isolate the bird and placing it on one of the 1/3 lines in the new crop area. (The current central positioning of the bird is really not helping in making the composition anymore interesting). |
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While it's a good detailed shot of the bird it's lost in all the background clutter, and that ugly sign is not helping the image at all. It needs a fairly tight crop on the bird, leaving a little space to the left, which I feel would improve this greatly. |
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How can one possibly add anything new to all the quality comments already posted. I have to go with my first impressions and trust that whatever I am about to say will probably have been reiterated several times. This is a wonderful shot. Bird shots are so difficult because they are so skittish and small. So I really like how crisp and detailed the DOF is on the bird. The blues are stunning, so the bird is excellent on its own. However, I find the green background a bit over saturated, washing out the forest a bit. The crop is a touch to vast for such a small subject, perhaps bringing it in tighter to the bird. With so much empty space, the bird loses a bit of its prominence and attention it rightly deserves. |
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Very nice capture. I know wildlife photography is difficult and birds are particulary scared. Good DOF choice on this one. I love how the blue of the bird contrasts with the blurred green of the background. You should try to crop it as there is too much empty space around the bird that doesn't help the picture. With a tighter crop the details of it's wing would be more visible. |
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I like the shot but the crop could be better. Because of the sign it is difficult to crop this and still get the entire bird in the shot, without so much sign. Still a tighter crop would help. Birds are so hard to photograph, they refuse to pose for us. |
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First the positive: I really like the detail on the Jay.
Especially on the wing and tail feathers. Also I like the depth of feild.
I think the problem with this shot is that it's too distant which renders the subject as a little ordinary. I think a tighter shot would make the subject stand out more give us a better view of what is nice about the bird |
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I rate it exactly down the middle, as the good in the pic is balanced by the bad. The good is the sharpness, the nice blue details which stands out nicely in the light and against the bokeh. The bad is the metal thing that the bird is standing on, which is so out of place, and the little darkness that obscures the birds face. |
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I would give it a 5.5 if .5 is allowed. The crop would be a big improvement, the bird is so crisp and clear, it should be a bigger part of the photo. Background, lighting and DOF are all good. I am used to scoring on a 10 scale so I might forget this is out of 7. Using the pasted statement will help I am sure. |
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Beautiful little guy you caught there. What I like most about this photograph is the amazing clarity of the bird. Its feathers as so perfectly defined, even in the larger sizes. I also like the green foliage in the background good bokeh and control of DoF. What Im not as fond of are the fact that the subject is so far away -leading to too much background, a bit too much of the sign is included, and I'm not crazy about the centering of the subject. The aspects Im not as fond of remind me of some of my photographs of birds where Im rushing in hopes that the bird wont fly away. Overall a good photograph, but I think it would be improved by a crop, and the image quality and detail are good enough that it would hold up nicely to a crop. |
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Looking at the original, the bird's wing is the best focus. The beak is less so but that might be because the head turned as the shutter was released. The white breast is burnt out but this doesn't detract from the shot. The position of the bird against the background is largely fortunate giving contrast. The bird is too small in this shot; it would be better cropped much tighter. I would crop it to a slightly portrait format starting with the head at the top left rule of thirds axis and the tail going to the bottom right corner. (I was going to try this with a note but there are too many other notes confusing me.) |
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I really like the clarity, the color and the sharpness of this photo. I also appreciate how difficult it is to get a good photo of an animal, let alone one that can fly away. That said, this photo could benefit from a crop, although I personally don't think it needs to be as radical as many have suggested here. A little less of the sign and the bird a little more to the side, and we have a great shot. |
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Pros: I love Nature shots, so that automatically gets points from me. Cons: The background hurts my eyes! It takes away from the blujay. Suggestions: I think a focal B&W on the bird would be best. It removes the harshness of the background, and puts emphasis on the blueness of the blujay. |
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Subject, sharpness and colors are so nice, but I dont like this framing. |
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This picture is properly exposed, focused, and sharp. The composition of the photo is lacking, in that it is too centralized and the bird doesn't fill enough of the frame. And while it is a good basic image of the bird, it doesn't really invoke the viewer to put much thought into what is going on in the picture. |
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the bird is sharp, nice colors, but the subject matter overall is not very interesting. i don't think it's taken at a great angle. i don't like the lower left corner. just doesnt do anything for me overall |
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The subject is nice and sharp and there is great contrast of it to the background but I find the bird is lost in the frame. The sign it is perched on has an akward geometry that is unpleasing to the eye. Technically for light, sharpness and DoF a great shot. It's the composition of the subject to the frame that is lacking the most. That's MHO. Later! |
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Gorgeous photo, the bird is crisp and clear and the DOF is excellent..If I had to do anything to it it would be to crop it, other than that it's a great shot! |
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Definitely needs a tighter crop - I like the hunchback look to the jay though |
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The subject is great and interesting. The contrast is there but due to the composition the viewers eye is drawn to the street sign. A closer crop of the intended focal point, the jay, would increase the drawing power and rating. Something so simple, tch! |
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Good job on getting the little guy in focus being that he is such a small target. Technicaly the photo is ok, there is alot of area around him and he is on street sign. A nice tree branch would be much more appealing here. I agree that any of the crop suggestions would greatly improve this photo. The DOF is nice and makes him stand out nicely. |
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IMHO, I would give it 3/7 ranking for the bird's sharpness, beautiful colors, and the moment + effort to take the shot. However, I don't "feel" anything there (feeling/emotion is the most important aspect I look for in a photo). Besides, the object is too much centered, with lots of unnecessary space around; background though blur a bit, still distracts the eye; the foreground is really visible, should be cropped out too. |
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The bird is sharp and in perfect focus. In addition the DOF is quite good and makes your eyes instantly focus on the bird. However, I would prefer a closer crop and the placement of the bird slightly off-axis. In addition the sign the bird is standing on distracts from the bird itself. |
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I Like ot view the potential of a photograph; both from the point of view of what could have been done at the time the photo was taken, and what can be done now to make an interesting picture. A slightly different angle at photo time and a zoom lens would have made all the difference. Now we need to crop out most of hte background and eliminate most of what the bird is standing on. |
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From the MiRea's Realm Group, you are given a 5/7 ranking.
i love the dof here but the subject is comparatively small and far from the viewer..love the colors..i like the sunlight behind but it is so bright that the bird not very striking. |
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Well, as much as I hate to hop onto bandwagons... The crop is the only think working against you on this photo in my opinion. I don't see the metal object that the bird is standing on as a problem as long as you crop it out to a smaller proportion of the shot. Great color and sharpness. By the way, I'm a huge fan of Astrid Claessen's work. Her photos are amazing. |
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As always it is difficult to capture a rare bird and this is a great shot for that reason, especially posing on a sign. I wonder if the composition could be altered for what flickrites would I guess call 'interestingness' either with a closer (cropped) focus on the bird himself, or I'm intrigued to know what the sign he is sitting on says? |
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I like the shallow depth of field and the clarity of the subject. I feel the background is a bit distracting; a tighter crop would be more effective; and moving the subject off-center would add interest. |
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The capture of the bird is nice and crisp.Just an unfortunate perch that he chose Unless it was meant to be an 'urban nature' pic. Would do well with a crop, as the detail on the bird is good and sharp although slightly over exposed. Alround a quite plesant shot that from me scores... |
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Subject are really nice, you can't see this where I live, almost a desertic environment. Colors are right but maybe you can put some saturation. Light, let's say is a bit harsh and leads to some overexposed spots on bird's top parts. DOF seem insufficent, I would liked to see more. I thing it lacks a reference point for the subject, I mean, you can put more sign on composition (horizontally) or more green background instead, seems too centered for me. |
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The first thing that strikes me about this pic is that the DOF isn't shallow enough. Also, the jay is too small in the frame. The light is far too harsh on both the bird and on the background. Sorry, but I don't really like this one. That said, birds are very difficult to shoot and they require a lot of practice. Keep at it! |
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Here is what I like, The sharpness and crisp look of the bird itself. I love the dof here and the fact that it looks like a circle of light behind the bird on the trees almost like a spot light of sorts but not blowing out the bird, Very clear and detailed. Heres what is buggin me. You have this centered, very seldom does centering work out Greatly, it works but i think if the bird was crops maybe so that some of that street sign, or all of it, was gone so the bird would be hanging out in the bottom left of the image I think this photo would rock even harder than it already does. Good job over all just a framing thing. Cheers |
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lovely colour to bird and bg, focal length has hurt you here, a bigger zoom would have brought the bird right into the frame more, getting more detail, less need for cropping...a little catchlight in the eye would also have been nice, not always possible tho i guess when shooting from a distance.. |
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Very nice and vivid color, focus, and DoF. But I feel there's too much of the sign in the picture; maybe crop it so only the black is showing and maybe rotate it counter-clockwise a few degrees. |
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This image looks a bit overexposed. Some of the details of the highlights on the bird (especially the chest and shoulder) are lost. In terms of composition, there is too much space around the subject, I would personally zoom in more or get closer to fill the frame with the subject. Also, the depth of field can be reduced to blur out the otherwise distracting background more. On the plus side, the bird is sharp and the colours are vivd. |
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reading through the first couple of pages, I agree with the general direction of comments saying a crop would improve the composition. I think the the juxtaposition of environments is really what makes the composition interesting, though. I'd crop out the screw on the sign (it distracts from the clean, graphic appeal of the sign)and crop pretty close to the top of the jay's head. lumowerkx's post is pretty close to what I have in mind in terms of cropping, but more of a 1:3 format keeping the bottom alignment. The foreground is a bit lost, but adjusting the levels in the background so it's less saturated would help bring out the jay's detail - if you can fix that blowout on the chest that would be nice, too. |
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I understand that getting a bird into a perfect position
is hard when trying to take a great shot. Although there was potential
with this setup, the sign disrupts the tranquil mood of it all, and the
bird get's lost in the busy background.
If the picture was taken closer, it would've made a more interesting shot. |
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Blue Jays are beautiful, and you got this one with enough detail for a bird guide book. For a Flickr audience, I would have gone ahead and cropped it. The background doesn't add much, and it's way better when you can see all the patterns of feathers and colors. |
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i also see the focus too far off the bird, which has wonderful colors.... |
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I agree with egg theorem: animals in general do not pose for a camera unless they are curious, the nice thing of a good dig. camera is the fastness of editing, I have a Canon EOS300D and is provided with a very good software for colours saturation, dark and light, cropping etc. With a conventional camera you loose time for developping, but you gain in quality, you need about 15 millions pics to reach the same quality of a film. I have them all: Paintshop. Photoshop, Corel, but I not particularly crazy for the readymade solutions they give, I prefer to filter before I take a pic. A shop keeper ask me why buy a filter if you have a photoshop! With filters I have a better picture right away. Thats why I choose for a reflex camera and a multifunctional lens. |
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Creo que es una foto muy original, con un buen encuadre. Quizás hubiera quedado mejor con un poco menos de sol sobre el pajaro. |
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The bird should not be at the center of composition. dof and focus seems good, but the buttom left rectangle is annoying. btw the bird colors seem good. |
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I like the colors and the capture. I think the bluriness of the background distracts too much from the focal point of the bird. I think a bit of a crop would help a lot. Not too much though. |
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This is a really nice bird shot if you only look at the bird itself. I even like the blurred background which makes the crispness of the bird stand out even more. But I agree with all the comments on the composition....a closer crop would be much better, as would a more natural perk for the bluejay |
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As many people have pointed out, this photo does need to be cropped. Detail is good, but the small size of the bird makes it look very average. Background is a little too busy as well. |
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Great clear, sharp focus - subject nearly gets lost in the background, agree with the majority that a nice tight crop would do this better justice. For a quick snap, it's great, but if it were more "planned" (yeah, good luck getting nature to work with you!), it'd be nice to keep it "natural" without the street sign, perhaps a branch or something? |
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I don't think there's anything wrong with the shot. If we could choose the place and the location all the time, the bird would have landed on something better and the compo would be fine, everything would be great! Maybe you could consider cropping a bit of the top off and getting a little more of the bottom part into the frame, which would put the bird in it's proper perspective and also improve the compo. |
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Beautiful bird with nice details, I would have liked to see him off-centered a bit. I'm not keen on cropping very often but on this one I think it would have worked nicely, Also, to me the lighting could be worked on a little bit. |
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I'm a bit of a negative-space junky, but obviously this composition is just way too blown out. There are problems in most options really, mostly due to so much weight concentrated in the bottom left corner as a result of the roof. But I guess this can be antagonized by leaving more space on the right to centre the weight. Great zoomed in on full size, but otherwise the intended subject is lost. |
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It needs some composition, but the light on the main subject and the colours are great. I would try cropping it so as to bring the attention to the bird. |
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It's better view in the large size. The image is sharp, clear and the DOF is good, too. On the other hand, I feel the background is disturbed and the center composition also decreases the attractive of this image. As the result I would suggest some crop to recompose the scene and to decrese the distractive of background. A postprocess might improve this photo. |
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It's a nice image, but there are some burnt highlights on the bird, and I don't see any unique or intriguing detail or behavior. I also agree that a crop is needed, there is entirely too much space around the subject, and it's a little too centered for me. |
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Great colors, DoF, detail on the bird. I find the object of it's perch a bit distracting and not complementary to the rest of the shot. That's really my only complaint, except for maybe the bird could have more of the frame (zoom). |
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I like the picture. I think it would be better if the crop were tighter, the bird were focused on the head and the head had more light. |
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I love bird pics so much that I could be influenced to score higher than if the main subject were, say, a snake. The colors is this photograph are soothing (cool tones of blue and green) and the details on the jay are crisp. The DoF is perfect, blurring the background and making the bluejay pop out in contrast. The only thing I feel the photo needs is to be cropped...cropped so that the bird's head would be in the upper right quadrant and the thing he is perched on would be removed (except for the part his feet are on of course). I believe cropping this photo would evolve this capture from good to great! |
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It's a very nice picture of an attractive subject, but some of the tecnical problems pop out at me. As noted above, the crop isn't the most favorable to feature the bird. The colors are lovely, but in the largest view, you really see how the birds head isn't very sharp and that lack of sharp detail limits the separation of the subject from the background. In addition to that, there is a good bit of patterned noise in the blurred background...perhaps from the compression or post processing. |
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I would definitely crop the image because right now my eye is drawn more to the sign than to the bird. The large white part is distracting. I do like the DOF and blurred background. At first I thought I would dodge the head a little, but then I thought that this way it shows the play of light and shadow better. There is nice shading around the edges, except for the white of the sign. |
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The focus and colors are beautiful, as well as the dof, but I agree that this picture would really pop with a nice crop. |
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Ok, I tried not to read anyone else's comments. If the bird is the intended subject, you could benifit from some cropping to help emphasize. Or darking the background. There is so much light and texture in the background that I find it distracting. The bird is lovely and blue and nicely captured. |
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I like the little bird, but I find it "lost" in the picture.
Probably a closer crop would help. On the other hand, light and colours
are ok for me.
From the MiRea's Realm Group, you are given a 4/7 ranking. |
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I've chosen to ignore all the comments so far... The bird is great, really sharp good focus and an interesting pose, but I don't like the sign it's sat on. See my crop suggestion, for what I feel would be a better balance to the shot. |
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Alrighty. Although I peaked at some comments, I didn't read through them all. It's clear what pleases is personal ... so here goes my take. (Remember, honesty with tact is always best.) The photo from a technical perspective is OK ... sharp on the subject, OK lighting (shadow on the face is a little distracting) and good coloration, not too keen on composition or distance from bluejay. (1.5/3) From an artisitc perspective (or my Wow factor), it's kinda ho hum (not that that is negative, it just doesn't make me want to explore further). The bird is beautiful and I like bluejays, so that's a plus. (1.5/3) I leave 1 point of the 7 for that "I wish that photo were mine group". (0/1) Overall the photo is OK. If everyone scored it a 3 it would be a 15 ... above the dungeon level for sure ... but it certainly doesn't belong in the upper levels. So there you have it ... that's the way I think (scary, isn't it). |
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Nice subject and DOF, but the focus is slightly off on the head of the bird (see large size) - however the body looks great and the body colours are very nicely saturated. Would like to see a much tighter crop also. |
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What I get from the photo is that in fact the main subject is too small compared to the size of the crop. On the other hand between the three suggested crops I would take only the one from biffoto: 1. because in general I don't like squared photos, 2. because the other one leaves too much space behind the tail. The detail of the bird is excellent and even if you don't get exactly where it is standing this wouldn't be a problem. The DoF is greatm and the background adds a lot of colour to the photo. Great overall job!! |
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(My mostly-completed scoring standard post was lost in a browser crash. Here goes round two.) This image, as it stands now, is perhaps a half-step above an average snapshot. Nice profile, cheerful, relatively sharp. The bokeh is quite nice. I agree with the cropping comments that have already been made, but what would really make the shot for me is if the focal point was the bird's eye rather than its wing. |
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The bird is nice, but the background is too heavy in my opinion. Composition could be improved. Probably a close-up would improve the overall quality. also, the the bird is overexposed. |
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I have to agree with what has already been posted. The photo has great DOF but because the bird takes up such a small portion of the photo...it leaves it lacking. It needs to be cropped badly. |
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I like the DoF in this picture but I think that a closer look to it would be very nice! |
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Very nice DOF shot. I guess you didn't had much time to choose the angle. This is clearly a single shot chance since the bluejay don't use to pose on top of traffic signals ;^> So it's a rewarding shot, or it would be If I was behind the camera. The natural light focused on the bird helped to increase the detail. It really pleases me. |
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I'm trying to score and post before I read from others so I hope I don't embarass myself. This is a nice photo but I don't see anything special about it. The colors are nice but I think there is too much empty space around the bird. Either zoom in or make a crop to focus on the bird a bit more. You did a nice job with the dof here - I like the way the background came across without being distracting. I don't think showing what the bird is perching on (an ugly sign) is helping the photo at all so I would crop most of it out. I like the overall lighting of the shot but I wish it didn't shadow right on the birds head. You did catch some gorgeous color and detail in the tail feathers. |
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The bird itself is excellently sharp. Also the background in contrast to the bird is smooth and gentle. I would agree with a crop, like others said before. If you keep it like this, the bird, wich is the main subject, is getting lost. Also I would take away some colours of the background, that improves the contrast to the bird. On my opinion it might look more interesting then. |
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Nice dof and pretty photo, but lacks something really meaningful. Besides, the place that the bird sitting on is not pleasant to me. |
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I hope thats not too harsh. Firstly, great focus. Great moment in time. Lost points for--- ---cropping ---What the bird is sitting on (I know you can't change that but crop it so that it doesn't detract from the photo.) ---Bird is lost in background. (Possibly change DOF so background is more blurred) ---Detail of breast is lost through over-exposure. ---There is no hook in the picture to make me want to look at it a second time. I know this sounds harsh, and I hope my pictures aren't judged quite as harshly, but I'm just being honest. |
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FIRST IMPRESSION Nice snapshot. PROS Decent technical quality. Good focus, nice depth of field, good dynamic range. Beautiful subject. I even like that he's standing on some sort of street sign as it makes a subtle statement about man's intrusion into the environment: our perception of the otherwise natural setting is disturbed by the presence of the sign, as well it should be. Love the color contrasts. The black and white sign versus the blue bird versus the green backdrop. CONS Needs a crop. Of the crops suggested so far, my personal preference would be something close to the one suggested by Reinhold Stansich. The lighting is too bright and too direct. This causes a couple of problems: (1) Harsh shadows that darken parts of the bird without adding to the composition; (2) The brightness of the background directly behind the bird is, in my opinion, the photos biggest problem. The bird's beautiful curves are interrupted by the intrusion of the bright patch of trees directly behind him. SUMMARY Nice subject and good technical quality in a snapshot-like photo, but some notable composition problems. |
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The DOF in this shot is really nicely done. The bluejay is a good subject and I like how it is framed,however the sign on the lower left distracts from an overall mood ,My personal idea is it could have been more tighter-maybe a crop or a zoom. If the sign was more balanced and in line apart from being angular, the shot might have worked. Good effort though! |
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I'd crop the photo with more space on the left side of the bird to give a sense of direction to the photo. Too bad that the head is in a shadow - query if it could be dodged in Photoshop for a more pleasing look. |
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Enlarging this picture brings that bird into my life like I have never dreamt before. No need for the crops, for I can imagine it as if in real life right now. Living among us and existing as it always has and always will. |
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Although the subject is crisp and clear, the shadow is a bit dark. I would crop the photo so the bird would be the main focus, with this photo you tend to look at the bird and then your eye wanders to all the other distractions. But, after all that, I would print it out and hang it up (after cropping). :-) |
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The bird is in focus but against the background, it looks too small. I like the colors and the blur of the background but I also find the object the bird is perching on a bit distracting. Good Points: Bird is in focus, lovely colors, lovely blur in backround Bad Points: The background overwhelms the bird, the object the bird is perched on is a bit distracting |
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The DOF is nice, the bird is sharp...but the many suggestions for a crop would be very useful. Its an ok photo but not stunning. |
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Critiquing the photo as it is, because I'm sure you see the crop here. There is great clarity, a crispness that is exquisite along with good DOF. As a whole the centered and small size of the bird makes it appear lost in a too large and blurry background, making the shot less eye-catching. The clarity is lost to the viewer unless someone takes the time to look at the larger version. The sign detracts from the composition unless you are going for an urban nature shot then I would add more sign to make it clear. |
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the sign doesn't bother me so much - the background is more distracting |
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I've scored this once. Maybe my score was lost or I didn't do it right. Anyway here goes. The bird is sharp and crisp. The moment has been caught well as the eye appears to be on the photographer. The background colouring is good with the trees in sun light but nicely out of focus so that the bird remains the focal point. The sign, although in focus, is not distracting per se. It is plain enough not to detract from the bird and I like the bird poo by the feet. My own choice would be to crop the picture vertically so that the balance of foreground sign and background foliage were better balanced and the bird image would occupy a bigger percentage of the screen. |
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I quite like the image. OK, the bird's head could be in better focus, where to position the bird in the shot?, looking in or out? - a lot of subjective, personal preferences involved. I like the background and perch, the colour of the bird and how it contrasts with the surroundings. The composition is slightly odd but I'm slow to suggest a further crop!!! |
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I definitely agree with the crop suggestions I think there is a lot that does not need to be in the photo including the screw on the sign that is really distracting and the overwhelming bokeh also altho I like the bluejay and think his blueness is great his front belly is a bit washed out |
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Pros: Nice details on the bird, color and lightning. Cons: Backgound abit messy. Bird should be off center. Suggestion: Another crop and more narrow DOF would help. |
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Well, since I'm not a professional photographer and my
purpose is to learn about composition techniques, I can't really understand
the meaning of the crops: so, in my opinion this picture is a good one,
but it could have been improved by thinking the composition in another
way.
Second: actually I don't love so much this kind of subject, but this is my very personal taste, I know. |
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The bird is fabulous, and I even like the sign that he's standing on -- it makes him seem that much more delicate and fragile. The background overwhelms him, though, and his colors don't pop with as much contrast as they should. |
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First off, I think that the focused bird and blurred background are interesting. I always enjoy these kinds of photos. However the sign (I do think it's a sign) that the bird is standing on, and which we can only partially see, is a bit distracting. It clashes with the photo and ditracts from it's 'nature' value. I do like the lighting though. |
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At first, I like the picture to itself. The bird has an interesting attitude. I can recognize his strain from head up to his claws. The body is put beautifully sharply but unfortunately the sharpness already decreases at the head. A little few focus on the signpost and for this more on the bird. The part is not chosen very well. The bird must be more on the right and does not centre so much. Starting out from the right it would fill the picture up with its look. Now it sits in the middle and its look points to the left, the complete right side is discontinued through this. The signpost also could be cropped a bit. I find the strongly blurred background good. Through this the bird is stressed well. The Colours are pleasantly also natural. |
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I really like the sharpness of the bird and nice dof. You can see it's beautiful colors, you captured that wonderfully. I only wish, like many others that there was a tighter crop on the bird itself. I would also like maybe a little more light on the birds face. Nice capture of a beautiful bird! |
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Very nice bird photo but the stuff around the animal distracts from the focus on the bird |
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The blue bird looks nice against the green background, I would crop this like others have said, but not quite as much as others have suggested. There's something in the way the green surrounds the blue, and you don't want to take too much of that drama away. At first the sign appears to be a distraction, but it ties in somehow to the eye of the bird. It also is relevant to the manmade vs. nature aspect of the photo. With the wild nature and fear of man that birds have, there's not much you could have done to improve this photo, at least not until post-production - where you could have made the colors a little more vivid, and the photo a little sharper. Overall this is a great capture. |
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Photographing nature, especially animals is never easy, thus sometimes, when you see something interesting, we tend to shoot and forget about our setting and sometime in our haste we forget about composition... For this picture.... Composition - could be better by, zooming into the object and move the object off center. Colour - it is good, as it's an outdoor shot in good sunshine. DoF is good... Background - a little too bright where the object is located thus "drowning" the beautiful object. I find the sign intrusive... but again, out of our control! Exposure slightly over... Perhaps a good point I can think of to improve, is to move yourself to slightly to your left or right and reposition the object away from the harsh light at the back. 1/3 rule could be use to enhance the picture here, especially in cropping. Use your exposure compensation to step down a little bit, lessen the brightness. Other then that, it's is still a good picture which can be ractified and improve from using judicios cropping and some minor post-processing using PS. |
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Great shot! Very sharp. the colors are beautiful. Cropping? not so sure. Since birds are free, to go where they want to. In this case the original size is the best. |
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First of all, the image needs a crop. On the original page, the crop I most agree with is YnR's version, however mine would place the eye directly on the top left third, centering the body (take that, photography "rules"!), and cropping to the white part of the sign. Second, aesthetically the image is "nice;" good bokeh and a fairly well-defined subject. However, the breast looks blown out, and the lightness of the leaves absorbs some definition on that side of the 'Jay. I would burn the leaves slightly to make the Bluejay pop extra hard. Conversely, the tail of the bird could use some very light dodging (maybe 10%). Next, the lighting could have been slightly better--more diffuse over the body so the head isn't casting a shadow on its back. Finally, the subject lacks critical sharpness. I'm assuming this wasn't processed at all, so some effective use of USM or smart sharpen should clean up pretty effectively. Additional, selective, personal preference type points: The subject is very ordinary, but it may not be a common bird for some; the perspective, however, is very typical and lacks creativity. I don't know if I would, but some slight, selective vignetting might help draw the eye in. As opposed to burning the leaves and dodging the Bluejay, you may reverse it. I think the background may be too blown in that situation, though. |
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The green background definitely interferes with the bluebird, so this may be a candidate for selective colourization to isolate the bird. The negative space gives a sense of the bird's tinyness, which is useful in some respects. However, the pic can be cropped to focus more on the subject. I like the clarity of the bird, however a smaller DOF would have been nice. |
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I like the sharpness of the bird and the colors in the background but I think you should zoom in the bird. |
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[introductory note: First off, hi all. This looks like
a great group, and I'm excited to be a part of it. I hope my contributions
(both in images and in comments) will be appreciated and/or enjoyed. I
haven't read much in the way of previous voting/critique here yet, largely
because I often don't in such groups, wanting to express an unbiased take
on the image in question first. OTOH, sometimes I do read them, in which
case I'll generally try to find something to say which hasn't been said,
possibly even (politely) disagreeing with a former comment. In this case,
though, I've read very little, so I imagine a lot of this will be redundant.
;-)]
[now, as if I was finding this in the pool after (before) a shot of my own, and thus having it to give commentary on...] Hmm, interesting shot. I find it technically quite nice in some respects, and lacking in others. In particular, I really like the colors (when viewed at original size) in the feathers on the bird's back and tail -- the blues there are ever so slightly muted, yet still very rich, somehow. I also am intrigued by the bird's expression (if you'll allow me to anthropomorphise) -- I see a forlorn look there, like maybe (extending the question in your title and description) there was a chance to migrate, but it was missed, and so now a sense of sadness comes in -- a missing of friends, or opportunities, or both... maybe even a little bit of low-grade fear at the coming cold, and how it will be to try to survive it. On the negative sides in this image, the first thing that jumps out at me is that I wish the composition were more interesting. Your subject (presuming that's meant to be the bird) is fairly close to dead center of the frame, which is very rarely a good place to have things, and I don't think there's any compelling reason to keep it that way here. Perhaps cropping off from the right and top would help in that regard, though of course the ideal is to get a nice composition before you even press the shutter release. :-) I also find it to be unfortunate that we seem to be missing a fair bit of detail in the more brightly lit portions of the bird. On the other hand (back to the plus side), the fairly shallow depth of field does a decent job of keeping us focused on the bird, while still giving us just enough detail that we can feel like we know where we are. Were this an easier thing to just re-shoot, I would suggest moving such that the background leaves were in shadow for the portion directly behind the bird -- thus causing them to contrast more dramatically against the bird's chest. One final technical difficulty, though this required me to look quite close to see, is that you seem to have a bit of chromatic abberation in the shot, especially around the bird's legs (the right leg appears reddish in front, the left leg reddish in back). Oh, and just a classification thing -- I know some folks wouldn't (while others would) call this a "Nature" shot, because of the sign. I don't really care much about that, personally, but I thought I'd mention it in case you had plans to submit to a nature pool (on or off flickr) where there might appear folks who are zealous about that point. So, with all of that, I guess it comes down to ranking time: There's some definite promise here, but standing on its own, and especially in the smaller sizes, this image just isn't very compelling for me overall -- the impact only starts up at much bigger sizes. [two final out-of-review notes: (1) this is likely longer than most of my reviews will tend to be, though I do go like this at times; (2) I'm litterally falling asleep while typing this, so -- while hopefully I've managed to re-assemble trains of thought before they derailed completely, it's entirely possible that I've made some spelling, typing, and/or continuity errors in the above. I'll try to remember to do an editing pass sometime tomorrow, when I'm not so tired. Cheers, all!] |
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Beautiful capture ! Where this is so clear it would be awesome cropped. |
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Considering the fact you zoomed as close onto the bird as your camera allowed you to do the composition is well choosen. DOF is also good and considering the bird was not too long there posing for your shot the image is well taken. What's kind of a problem is the background which is quite busy due to all those highlights there. You could try to either blur the background a little bit more in Photoshop or darken the highlights using the burn tool. As for the composition: I would like to see a tighter crop on the bird as this is the main subject in the image. I would crop like this: (Cropped pic inserted into comment) The bird needs some room to the left in the direction it is looking. And the sign the bird is sitting on gives also some relation of size. |
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The focus on that bird is just super but though the depth of field is good, the overwhelming background takes my attention away from the bird. The crop suggestion in the photo page is a good one as it allows the bird to become the main subject of the photograph. With the crop this would go up significantly. |
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the contrast is harsh between the head and the backdrop and some areas are overexposed, on close up the head is not in focus, a good pic though as these are always difficult to get perfect |
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Technically, DOF, etc, I think that this photograph is executed very well. Compositionally speaking, I believe the background element or negative space is inactive. I would consider cropping the photograph or zooming in a bit on the bird the next time you shoot animals in inactive atmospheres. On the other hand, the fresh colors of the trees and the bluejay in contrast to the road sign create a visually complex composition. |
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Una buena foto. Me parece que está un poquito quemada con la luz. |
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i do not find that interesting. wanted u to zoom in n change the angle of shot. |
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Nice sharp image of the bird. I would definately crop and make sure you can´t tell that it´s on a roadsign which makes the picture a bit less appealing to me. |
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This must be the most commented on pic in Flickr? ANyway, technically good capture of the bird showing sharp focus whre required and a blurred background to make the main subject more distinct. The colours and good and reflect an accurate capture of nature. On the negative side, I find the subject a little too centred in the frame and the object the bird is sitting on adds nothing - and infact detracts from the rest of the picture. for that reason: |
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its a clear shot of the bird and a noce looking bird but I would have preffered it to be bigger. I find my eyes going blurry with the green background. It is a nice photo though. |
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Well, the crop isn't great, like everyone said - the subject is rather bulls-eyed. But I like the subject, and the depth of field. I agree that the chest of the bird is slightly over exposed. Could be turned into a great photo in Photoshop. |
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I like the detail of the bird, but that big huge green background is very distracting. |
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Nice subject. Great colors and DOF, but shot too far. I agree with YnR's crop, but a little more left. |
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for the sharp focus and the shallow depth of field that causing there to be no doubt as to subject. If the object on which the bird is perched added to the story (ie: it was an urban bird and this was a high tech mailbox) then including more of it to make it identifiable would be an option. If not then cropping more of it out would better serve the rule of thirds. The cropping could also lessen the amount of green background if you wanted to keep standard dimentions. |
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Nice record of a bird, technically very good, but without any artistic merit. There is no story or interaction with the viewer, the sign is ugly and the bokeh is not particularly pleasing |
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Fantastic subject, very sharp and colorful. But too much of background is ruining the overall beauty of the picture. |
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i see it as though you were walking by had a point and
shoot in your pocket, pulled it out and snapped quickly as you didn't know
if the bird would fly away in a second or minutes.
i find the sign it is standng on some what distracting as there is too much of it. i atcually wish there were more green instead of that. i do however find that the bird is very vibrant and crisp. i wish i could see more of it. |
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For the most part this is a great snap. I would like to have seen more of the sign the bird is resting on since that urban element is a permanent part of the photograph, I would have accentuated it. Perhaps some dodging on the face of the bird. Sure some tweaking to the photograph could have been made at the artists discretion. But those choices are what makes each of us different. |
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I agree with many who have commented; there is too much background. A closer crop (so that the bird is taking up the majority of the frame, but still off-center) would make it a more interesting shot. The detail of the bird is very sharp, and the DOF is great. There's just too much open space in the picture. Unlike most of the scoreres, I like the sign in the shot. It gives a sense of how small the bird is. I'd crop out some of it, but not all. A great capture nonetheless... I'm lucky if I can get a shot of a pigeon in my back yard! =) |
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Good picture.. |
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A nice bird shot that shows the little fellow well in its natural environment. The bird is well separated from the background. I would crop it differently and leave out space at the right edge and the bottom. That would IMO make the shot more dynamic. It's also a pity that the head is partly in shadow. The background cold also be a bit more blurred if we want to be picky. Overall a nice shot that however have some aspects that could be improved. |
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I like this photograph. Visually it could be better it the bird was closer cropped either while shooting or in editing. The picture has a crisp clever look to it that I appreciate greatly. The sign is a little distracting, but at the same time if you don't have it at all the bird is just floating in the air. I like the Dof with the bird against the background. Overall well done. |
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Why the five? Even though this is my shot, I will try and answer like it wasn't. To me this pic has a lot going for it when you look at the details in it's original size. It loses points here on composition basically. Definitley too much background, and it would have been more effective had I composed so the bird was more on the left. PS: I generally don't post cropped shots unless there are from my "Walmart Ready" set. |
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I like the sharpness of the bird and feel with cropping this would be a very good picture. As it is at present the detail of the bird does not stand out and the background detracts fom the subject. |
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I like the capture by itself. Nice blue bird and well done DOF. I agree with the crop suggestion. It will put more in foccus the bird and not so much the background.the bird will full more the frame.Also will take away most of the part of sign. Im new in this so i dont like so much to make deep coments of the others pics. |
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I definitely think a closer cropping is in order. The details of the bird's wings are fantastic. The sign is distracting, but at least the whiteness of it brings out the bird's feet and their cute grip. |
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i cant seem to get my eyes off it.. the colors are breath-taking! i give it a 6/7 (cudnt give u a full grade since i believe cropping wud improve the shot) |
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Background distracts from the beautiful jay. A duller background would be better. The composition is a bit uninteresting, but better than some I've seen. A dramatic angle, crop or zoom might distinguish this from thousands of other bird shots. |
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Nice and crisp focus on the bird, it's a pity that his face is in shadow and that he's so small in the frame. His wing is bluelicious! Nice job with he DoF, the background is bright green but not distracting. The sign doesn't bother me so much, especially as it is explained by the title (although in that case I'd almost like to see more of it). The black and white shape of it sort of echos the black and white in his wing. I also like that it's in the shadow so it doesn't compete for attention. However, I do find that white reflection on it and the rusted screw distracting. |
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Well here goes nothing :) First things first - nice shot, birds can be a lot of fun and this ones lovely and crisp, the lighting is perfect for it, maybe a little over exposure but with a point and shoot thats going to happen sometimes and the Depth of Field is spot on, its a good effort in those respects. I do agree with the crop suggestions already made, well to an extent - I would avoid the centered approach if possible, its overdone to my mind, I think you need to keep some of that lovely background of trees in if only for the dappled light. Anyways - Well done, show us more of your work:) |
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The bird is crisp and the depth of field nice and short. I actually would like to see the bokeh be a little smoother, though, which would make the bird stand out a bit more. The bird's perch is also intrusive -- you might want to try a composition that is less centered, next time. In short, the bird is lovely, but it needs to pop out a bit more, which you could do by making it take up more of the frame and/or by blurring the background a bit more. |
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I'm not sure I can add anything that hasn't already been said in some way already, but here's my take on it. It's a picture that you could show your mother who would smile lovingly and say, "that's nice dear" whilst passing you a digestive biscuit. It misses out on any wow factor by having far too central a composition giving your eye nowhere to wander. The building(?) the bird is on is out of keeping with the natural surroundings and the DOF used fails to isolate the bird sufficiently from what is a quite busy and distracting background. It's still a pleasant enough shot, but it falls short of being a great photo for the above stated reasons. |
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Judging from the "evidence" below his feet, I'd say he has perched here before! Nice feather detail and good sunlit bokeh in the background. The multiple crop suggestions have some merit too, but it depends on which photo you want this to be... a Bluejay, a Bluejay on a street sign, or a Bluejay on a sign in a sunny green environment (no wrong answer). The current "centered" composition may not be tho most dynamic choice. |
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Nice sharp photo, good colors and DOF. Agree with comments regarding crop and background being too busy. Although the sign can be a little distracting it does lend something more to the photo, like modern developed society meets nature type thing :) |
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Very good focus on the bird. Unfortunately the lighting from the side renders the face dark. I would crop a quarter height from the top and a quarter width from the right. In the end, this picture is a nice catch but nothing special. |
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I have read through many of these comments. I agree with some, I disagree with others, and some I don't even understand what you guys are talking about! But that's because I'm new here. Personally, I like the photo. I don't generally like to crop my pictures, but the suggestions by other members about cropping I generally agree with. Since I don't like to crop my originals, however, that particular aspect has no bearing on my score. Overall, it's a beautiful picture. I'm disappointed that the bird tilted his head in such a way that there is a shadow over his face, but that is beyond your control. Birds are hard to catch at just the right moment. I like the street sign in the picture, mainly because our world is increasingly encroaching on the habitat of birds and animals, and the bird's casual posture on a relatively foreign object is interesting to me. The detail of the feathers and the contrasting colors are very good. |
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This picture isn't the one that I dream about in the night actually. It's too much of a standard shot. Although it's a lot of fun to photograph birds and animals, it's quite hard to make a decent technically shot, the fun ends when the processing of the photo is over. I think that you have chosen a too wide perspective on this one. You should have done a really close up of the bird, and skipped most of the background and sign. |
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Ok let's see...i looked @ the full-size... The Bluejays colors are beautiful...i wish it was standing on something more natural, such as a branch or something, that would of made it even better...but what i really like is the lighting coming-in from the left...soooo... |
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Basically the main focus, a bird with so lovely colours ,could be captured with more details...only crop wouldn't have enhanced the image more clearly...background isn't much impressive...would like to see its closeup.... |
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Jays are not always easy to capture...I do agree that a tighter crop would be better! |
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I like the overall impact of this photo. The blue jay is well focused and it's colors are true and wonderfully bright. The unfocused background brings your attention to the bird, where it belongs. I believe the photo could be improved with cropping--eliminating most of the sign (which detracts from the photo). |
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When I first saw this photo, I was astonished by these
beautiful blue tones of bird's feathers, but after looking it for a while
I noticed that the photo has some things that I'd like to be changed. I
see that it is standing on some kind of sign, which is out of "true" light,
so it looks just like a distracttion, and I think that it would have been
much better if the bird stood on something a bit lightened, anyting with
texture wellrounded such as some old trunk that would "receive" light form
other side. Aproppriate crop would shurely alleviate the distraction for
our eye. The bird lost its texture a bit because of a little bit
stonnger morning light, but that could be neglected.
Other thing that I would change is the background that I'd like to be more blured because it also doesn't allow our eye to watch the bird calmly. If the leaves were more blured, I'm shure fewer tones would make a beautiful background for this lovely bird, but I suppose this is a teleobjective. The reflection of bird's lightened part of tail on the sign isn't attractive at all. |
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the backround green is brillant alittle bit distracting but the birds colour beatiful |
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good capture of a perky little bird. I would prefer it cropped with the bird at the top right and including all of the sign. this might emphasize the contrast between the patterns of the bird and the plainness of the sign and would may work due to the complimentary colours of the two. |
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The main thing that I think is holding this image back is that the bird is "lost" in the space - the background is too uniform, there isn't really much of a foreground and there is too much empty space around the bird. The image needs something to give a better sense of scale - like seeing more of the sign - or something to break-up the background - like a patch of blue sky (if possible) to repeat the blues in the bird's feathers and to give the viewer a visual break from all the green. The focus is kind of soft on the bird which, when viewed at larger sizes, diminishes the DoF. I think a recrop of the photo could help to introduce more asymmetry and to help control the background. Both a tighter crop and a wider crop could work, depending on what you want to get out of the image. A wide crop with the bird off-center might excentuate how small the bird is, while a tighter crop might give the image more balance a centered subject is not necessarily the best way to balance an image. The photo does have some good things happening - the color difference between the green background and the blue bird/sign, the hotspot of light in the background right behind the bird with the edges of the photo tending darker brings the eye into the bird, and the lines of the sign along with the lines formed by the branches all direct the eye to the bird at the center. These are all some very subtle design cues that bring the quality of the image up a notch for me. With a proper cropping, you could emphasize these elements and make the photo even better. |
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This is a very nice, sharp picture of a bird, but I would have loved to see a tighter crop, bringing the attention onto the bird and less on the sign he is standing on. The background is good, the sun speckled greens are an ideal surrounding for the subject, but there is maybe just a bit too much of it for my tastes. Overall, a nice shot that could be improved easily in post processing. |
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The first thing I like about this image is the size - and when viewed large the picture is crisp. plenty of overhead for cropping. Colour saturation and DOF are good - its a nice photo Nice bird portrait - too. |
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I'm not a huge fan of bird pics, but I appreciate how sharp the subject is and how hard they are to shoot. As everyone's said the way it's cropped makes the composition dull. The angle of the light is also casting harsh shadows across parts of the bird and getting close to blowing out others. I'd prefer a smaller dof so the backgroud has less detail in it. Right now it's not detailed enough to be interesting, yet present enough to be distracting. |
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cropping will be good but i love the details of the board under the bird more or less describing the angle of the focus, plus it has a very nice DOf, the picture itself is great |
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It's well exposed, nice depth of field, but the cropping is untidy and the perch of the bird is very distracting. |
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The colors and detail on the bird are superb, especially viewed large. The DOF is also very good, and I like the reflection on the sign border. The previous comments about composition and cropping are right on the money, as it stands the subject is lost in the background and the eye is drawn to the sign. A crop could change a very average image with a snapshot feel into something worthy of hanging on a wall! |
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This is a shot with alot of integrity, style and wit. I like the framing, color and subcontext. Clear, crisp and beautiful. All in all, a great shot. |
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The bird is in focus. The colors are good. I don't care for the composition. It is the kind of photo that you perhaps could not get a better angle to shoot from to prevent the bird from flying away, so I won't try to give you tips on that. I think the worst part is the sign. You could have cropped it in such a way that would remove the white block on the bottom portion of the sign as I suggest with my note. The Dof makes the viewer focus on the bird. Leaving all that sign in the photo detracts from the bird as the main focus. With all that being said, I like the photo! It has a nice, naturey (is that a word?) feel to it, even with the sign. |
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I prefer abstracts, so flowers & birdies have to be really well done to impress me. The focus is nice, but the background is really busy. Overall, just doesn't excite me. |
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Technically, the photo is fine: the focus is sharp and the exposure is good. The composition doesn't work for me, though. The subject, the blue jay, is dead center and too small in the frame. I suggest cropping in from the right, down from the top and up from the bottom. This would move the blue jay off center to the right, and make him a larger part of the photo, which would greatly improve the composition. |
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Just an observation. After scoring about 5 and refering back to this thread for scoring consistency it appears (to me at least) that the voters are more objective and critical here than in judgements passed on the stream photos - myself included. Is it just my perception? |
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Regarding the subject it's beautiful bird namely regarding the colors. From a techical point of view the light is good, the angle and the focus are correct. From a presentation point of view the photo needs to be cropped, namely regarding the base that supports the bird. |
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The colour of the bird is nice and both the lighting and the blurred background enphasizes its texture. Framing is too loose. I would crop it to remove part of the signal and place the bird aproximately one 3rd away from the right corner. |
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i'm not a bird person, so that may affect my reaction to the pic... but i think you did a really good job with depth of field on what obviously was a very quick shot... birds are not exactly cooperative models :) looking at the original size, i really like the crispness of the bird's feathers. the background is a bit distracting but i think you did a good job w/the dof considering it was probably a quick capture. you can always blur it more in ps. i agree with the others on the crop, it would definitely add interest. i like biffoto's suggestion the best, but with a little more space on the top. the sign doesn't bother me, it anchors the bird and honestly it contrasts with the "nature" feel of the bird/leaves. in my opinion it adds interest. overall, cute shot but doesn't really capture my interest. changing the composition (cropping) would help but i guess it all goes back to my original comment... i'm really not a bird person :) |
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The bird itself is great. although if you live in North America it isn't a very unusual one (it is more interesting to those of us who don't). But it gets lost in the background somewhat. My biggest proble, with this picture, however, is the visual disjoint between the blurred green of the trees annd the sharp greys of what I guess to be a letter box. The result is that my eye cannot stay on the main subject. My solution would be a very heavy crop. i think that the more of the letter box you can remove the more you give the bird a chance of standing out against the green. Nevertheless the capture of the bird is good. |
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First I'm a beginner and now how difficult wildlife photography
can be. The birds never seem to stay still long enough or want to pose.
I do have some comments though. The bird seems a little centered in the
picture yet it's not what your eye is drawn to. Perhaps cropping in as
in the above post would help. The other things is the light seems a little
off and creating distracting shadows but as I said before you can't pose
the bird.
From the MiRea's Realm Group, you are given a 4/7 ranking. |
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Nice sharp shot. But a poor composition overall. You might be able to rescue it by cropping as suggested above. |
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I like the sharpness and detail of the bird and, although I like the colors in the background, they distract me from the focal point. Cropping to the bird would help - allowing the background to frame the bird, not detract. |
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his pic has a big quality, in my opinion: its size! It's possisble to check well details, and what is not obvious from the small pic: focus and details on the bird are good, colour as well; while a bit overexposed, "bleached" on some parts; and some shade prevents a bit from saying it well on other parts. Composition doesn't seem optimal; I don't think that all this background add much (while showing good DOF); the sign on which the bird stands...hummm...a crop may improve the pic. But...it doesn't answer to the tittle question! making it look "real": even with the link! |
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In the original size I can see the birds detail and coloring is well captured. The image overall though loses impact due to how small the bird is and the lack of other interest in the photo. All is not lost however as creative croping can salvage some merit. |
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I would agree with the crop suggestions, but leaving a good bit of the sign, especially the black portions I feel it strengthens the blue |
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A cute and pretty subject, sure deserving a shots serie. I think the compo is too central, moreover the subject is too small respect the background. A crop is needed, moving the subject to the right, beeing it looking to the left. Correct DoF, I like it, bringing the attention on the subject. The bird exposition is not well balanced, beeing too dark on top and bottom and a little bit overexposed in the middle. |
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Good: Sharp, in focus, nice profile of the bird, colors work well together OK: given the camera, this zoom range is decent, I suppose getting any closer would risk the shot. Bad: It's a bird photo with the bird not doing much of anything. The crop of course could be better. With that wide swath of green on the right, it would be better to recompose with the bird in one corner... 5/7 for me is an above average score, which is quite good if you're using a point and shoot although p&shooters can certainly score higher. 4/7 would be a mixed bag, probably a decent snapshot with ONE thing going for it. 3/7 is most definitely leaning towards the poor part of the scale, when the shooter could have done something obvious to make the shot better (tutorials for better composition are all over the internet, so there's no excuse) but didn't, 2/7 is awful, as in universally bad, 1/7 I have never come across a picture on flickr that would ever deserve this score... Needless to say 6/7 is supremely good, as in, if you can produce work like this consistently, stop wasting your time on flickr and go see someone about a gallery show. 7/7: I may have come across something this good on Flickr, but on second thought I might not as I would immediately remember a shot this good. |
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its sharp, the central subject is really well lit. what i don't like is the angular perch, which doesn't do much at all. |
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Good photo with content for potentially a great photo. A very tightly cropped version probably has the potential of being spectacular as the the large amount of the sign included in this version is a definite distraction. |
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Focus is fine, but the bird blends into the background too much for me. Nice DoF too, but the sign he's on is too much of an uninteresting part of the photo. |
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I like the sharpness and color of the bird's wing, but the wing is brighter and sharper than the bird's face and eye. IMO, it should be the other way around. The harsh sunlight that caused the shadow on the face doesn't help, but you can try dodging the face to see if that helps any. Also, the background is too bright, IMO. I would burn the background just a bit to focus more attention on the bird. Cropping the right and top of the image would also make the bird a larger part of the image and create a more dynamic photograph, IMO. |
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you caught the bird very well, but the sign and the background spoilit a bit. Still: |
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A nice shot with sharp and nice colour handling. I do agree with crop as sugguested in your photo page. Excessive background seem contribute nothing but distracting to the nice portrait of bird. |
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I agree with Pablo. I think the detail on the bird itself is quite good but find the background very busy and distracting. A tighter framing would help put more focus on the bird and guide the eye. The colors are good but I would try to lighten the shadows on the birds head to match the rest of the body. I would give this picture a score of 3/7 if it wasn't for the sign. It makes the shot feel very "in my backyard". |
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A much tighter crop might rescue this photo, but the structure beneath it is distracting as is the bright background. DoF too deep, highlights on wing blown. A snapshot to be sure, not a keeper in my book. |
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While the focus is crisp and sharp on the bird, the overall composition doesn't work well for this type of photo. A tighter focus and/or crop would help on both sides, just enough of the sign and the trees to add contrast but not too much that it distracts. |
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I like the shot for the perfect shot of the bird itself, and the very good treatment of DOF. But there are two things that are crucial. One is that there is a too much background and the other is that there is too much of this sign in the picture. Both of it could be corrected with a crop, I left a note. I am not completely satisfied with my crop-suggestion, because still there is too much of the sign in it. The same goes for my idea to flip the shot horizontally, so the bird looks from left to right (the way we read!), this way the cropped area would propably look even worse, because the bird would seem to flee the photo. To sum up: Could be improved, but still would not be perfect. |
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This is what I feel about the photograph: 1. The photograph
of the main subject is sharp but the subject is placed almost in the middle.
I think it can be much more effective if the subject was on one of the
sides. 2. The bird is a little overexposed. This means that colors
are that prominent. It should be.
3. The photograph lacks contrast as the background behind the bird is a little distracting to me. 4. Very nice use of DOF, I think its just perfect for this kind of photo. 5. Gives me an expression that the bird is just ready to fly of anytime. |
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Very nice photo. The color is good and the subject is worth the photo. I like the lighting, but I do think the composition is a slight weakness. A crop could help to bring the focus more in on the bird and strengthen this shot. |
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The crop could be better, and I don't care much for the supporting imagery of the subject. Mainly the street sign, which I'd like to see all or nothing of. On the otherhand, the subject itself looks great, very clear, good focus. |
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Like the picture, love the bird & the bokeh. A crop would certainly promote this score. 4/7 |
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I love the dof and the colors on the bird and the background, but the framing is a little off. I'd like to see it cropped, with the bird in the lower right quarter of the frame. The bird is sharp and in focus, and the lighting/exposure is what it should be. |
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the perch being used by the bird overwhelms it too much, and the background distracts me, particularly top left, but the DoF is good. |
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I can imagine the bird coing in for a landing and catching the photographer out of the corner of it's eye and thinking. "I think they need to get a closer shot of me. I am a great looking bird, but no one will no because of all the trees in their photo. Maybe, if I sit really still they will get just the right composition, with some sign, but not too much, and a nice tight shot going right above my head. Well, I wish I could use a camera, cause I see some great shots everday." More bird, less background. |
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This photo has too much empty space at the sides,maybe
a square crop with the jaybird as the subject would help improve it.
The DoF is appropriate bringing attention to the bird instead of the surroundings. |
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This is a nice picture, though it doesn't really stand out to me one way or another. It looks like you probably zoomed in as close as possible, but I would still like a tighter composition. I know this is hard with birds. You did a nice job with DoF. The photo is maybe a tad overexposed. |
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Colors,lights and DOF are very good. But I also chan tell tat the crop and the relative position of the subject aren't so intersting. |
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The bird shows a tremendous amount of character, and he/she is making eye contact with the viewer, more or less, which always greatly enhances any wildlife photo. I particularly like the contrast between the colours of the bird and the colours of its immediate background. The colour differential, the sharp focus on the bird, and the complete absence of any middle ground add a three-dimensionality to the picture which is very effective. I would personally crop the photo down to about the middle third, vertically. I would position the bird in the lower right of the frame, and leave as much of the foliage above as possible - the intent being to suggest that the bird's domain extends upwards from its current position. I like the picture overall, it has a lot of life. |
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Lovely bird, the Blue Jay and you have caught it well. Maybe it needed more attention. Would have been great if the sunlight fell on its face, right now the face is in the shadows. I like the glow the sunlight on the foliage behind creates, it sort of hightlights the bird. The DOF is great, and the bird focused well. The biggest minus of this pic is ofcourse the sign post, too big, taking too much space and boring. Maybe it could be cropped further? |
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On the plus side, the detail is superb when viewed in the large size, and I actually rather like the sign - the juxtaposition of nature and manmade structures is quite effective. On the negative, for me the photo really does need cropping in much tighter. The bird is lost in the background and I find my eyes scanning the rest of the picture to see if there is something I have missed. I feel that the contrast between the background and the bird isn't great enough - the bird doesn't stand out, especially at the wing tips and tail feathers. It is a shame about the slight over exposure, but as has been said, this sort of shot is one where you don't have much time to change set ups etc. On balance a nice photo if it was cropped in tighter. |
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I like the picture, although I would have liked it more if you shot it closer. The bird is sharp and crisp. The background is nice and I like the blur, but overall I think it's too much. A crop would bring benefit to this picture, although I usually don't like to crop my images. |
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It's technicly a good shot : the bird is in the focus, the light is great, the DOF is perfect, but the black frame disturb a lot the composition which also suffer from a centered organisation around the bird, alone in the middle of the photo. Moreover, i dont found any emotion in this photo. |
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This is a very fine photo with the exception of the subect size(the bird). A tighter crop all around would be acceptable. Whith a tighter crop the subject would be fine at the center of the photo since the background is out of focus. Offsetting the subject would only make the background more prominent which is what is being avoided by making a tighter crop. At first the unnatural sign seemed out of place but the more this photo is viewed the more the sign is apreciated not only for its originallity(not a branch) and for the reflection the subject casts on the shiny surface. |
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The bird is quite sharp, but I don't really like the composition it's very plain, the bird is rather central and I find the signboard very distracting. The background although nicely out of focus is still a little busy, a closer shot from a lower angle might have been good. |
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Like the subject a lot, particularly the colors on the bird. Technically, sharpness is good, exposure is good. Looks like the underbelly of the bird could be improved a tad bit where it is slightly burnt out, but I think the exposure is still very nice. DOF is good enough to isolate the subject, could be slightly better, but looking at EXIF maybe at the widest aperture for the camera anyway. Compositionally, I think the picture would have been better off by sticking to rule of thirds. I am trying to think of a good reason for centering the bird horiziontally, and the good thing about that is reducing the sign that the bird is sitting on. Seems to be the sign detracts a lot from the beauty of the picture and less of it is more! |
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I'v got the idea i'm missing some color. I'm not working on my regular pc but on my laptop. This screen is not a good as my regular pc. The sharpness is excellent. I do not like the sign where the bird is sitting on. So cropping the photo is better with less sign. The light of the sun doesnt work the picture in a good way, it makes it somehow to bright. |
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lovely sharpness to the main subject but the overall composition is pretty poor. There are just too many distractions here, we can see too much sign and we can see too much BG. I thinks this definitely needs a recrop. |
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Nice bird but I want to see it fill the frame more...it's perch is kind of distracting too |
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This has the potential of being a much better picture with the proper crop. As of right now however, there is just way too much "wasted" space in the background. The detail and color of the bird keeps a point of interest, but again the "empty" background dissolves this pretty quickly. |
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Lovely crisp shot of a pretty bird - I'd go with the
suggestion of a crop with the bird off-centre to the left as I also find
the background overpoweringly busy.
I really like the reflection of the bird in the sign too but not the rusty screw ! |
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Good sharp capture of a flighty subject, with nice bokeh in the background. I would crop more tightly around the bird, which would put your subject towards the right of your photo and take it out of the direct center. The green background is pretty, but the object the bird is perched on isn't very beautiful and doesn't add a lot content-wise, so I'd try cropping up a little on that as well. Your highlights are somewhat blown because of the bright sunlight. I might try darkening the highlights a bit. If I were choosing your best photo to represent you, I might want to look at your other bird photos; this one is pretty and competent, but the bird is not conveying much attitude or doing anything, so it is perhaps not an optimally interesting photo. |
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I definitely agree with any of the crop suggestions. The problems right now are that the subject is dead center. The sign that he is on takes up too much space. And the one that bothers me the most is that there are a few spots on the bird that have blown out to pure white. Loosing detail like that on the main subject really hurts. |
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Good sharp capture of the bird, especially nice that you got a nice bright patch of leaves behind it. I can't tell if the highlight on the front of its wing is because the bird is white there or not -- maybe overexposed? As the wealth of crop suggestions indicates, there's too much space around the bird. I also think the sign is distracting -- I'm trying to figure out if it's a "One Way" sign or not which is probably not your goal. |
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I like this bird because whenever I find its feathers I appreciate their deep blue...Mainly because the cropping can be improved. I would try to do some arty stuff here too. First thing I would like to look at is blurring the traffic sign and the background to put more emphasis on the bird the focus point of the picture. |
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Animal photography is probably more challenging than most other forms of photography. The patience of the person behind the camera influences the outcome almost as much as the beauty or interstingness of the subject. In this case, the bird is in focus and the blurry background adds a nice touch. However, I also think that the picture should be cropped, and the bird doesn't have to be right in the center of the picture. |
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A great beautiful subject and the focus is quite good. In larger size, the details was stunning. The angle of the bird is also good. However, in the whole picture, the contrast of background, green and black/white, was so obvious to see and thus let the a bit smaller subject to fuse in, but not stand out. Since you can't change where the bird stand, the crop or from a different perspective might help. |
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I like this picture as it is. It is sharp on the bird, but I prefer it cropped like 'biffoto' marked it with a note. |
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hi, newbie here :D i think this shot is focused well and crisp...it doesnt blow me away though and i echo the comments on cropping. |
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I have tried not to read any other comments before scoring this. My apologies if I repeat anything said before! I would give this a 5/7 score. The good: Great DOF, I like that the green contrasts with the bird nicely. I like how sharp the foreground (bird) is, as I can see the patterns on the wing as well. This is a difficult subject and I personally like blue jays so that figures into my scoring too :) The bad: I think there is too much free space around the bird and agree with a tighter crop. Also, I think the bird's head itself is a bit too dark and that sort of detracts from the picture. If there was a way to lighten the foreground I think it would make the picture even more engaging. All in all the picture is fairly well done! Good work :) |
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I think the colors are great, as is the depth of field. Good clarity, too. I agree with the crop suggestions. It is too centered. Nice picture, though. |
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oh such a beautfiful bird and its in good focus, and contrasts well with the foliage behind, but i find the composition lacking. Would prefer different crop, with enlarged image of the bird.. |
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Here is my personal justification: I think the bird is in focus, but is too far away; needs cropped (like most everyone has said). Good DOF, but the subject is squarely in the middle of the frame, the light is a little harsh on the bird, and perhaps a different, more interesting or creative angle could be used (hard, I know with a moving object!). I think the sign detracts from the natural aspect of the bird and trees. The color of the bird and trees are nice, though! |
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I really like the composition of this, as well as the colors. I don't think a crop is urgently needed, although it might improve the shot slightly. A solid effort, but it lacks that special something to make it really interesting. |
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The main subject is too centered, I suggest cropping vertically so the bird is in the upper right hand corner of the photo. I would also suggest cropping pretty tight to show the detail in the birds color. Overall the use of DOF is very effective, with good light and color contrast. |
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The detail and colour of the bird is great, a bit to much background, maybe a crop? |
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Like the blurred light green field behind the bird - and in large the fine detail of the feathers and markings really hit home. Also like the way the balancing tail is reflected in the black of the sign - balancing in more ways than one, I guess - for me it would be great to see this composition closing in and emphasising the harmony in that perch and reflection. As well as the bird, of course! :) |
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I really like the detail of the bird, but i wish more of the trees were cropped out. I actually like the thing it's sitting on because connects back to the coloring of the bird. |
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The colors and sharpness of the bird are great, as well as the bokeh of the background. However I do have two problems with this photo. First, the bird is too centered. Subjects should rarely be centered. They should be slightly to the left or right, and in this case right, due to the bird facing left. Second, the background immediately behind the bird is too bright, which takes away the focus of the bird. It just becomes too distracting. The first problem could be fixed with a crop and second is more difficult. Maybe a good ol' fashioned photoshop burn? Even then it'll be difficult to pull off. Regarding the sign, unlike some others in this thread, it really doesn't bother me. All too often people are looking for the perfect shot in nature, however the fact of the matter is that we are encroaching everywhere where nature lies. A bird on a manmade object is the norm. It's exactly the same thing when people want to take a picture, for example, of the forbidden city in Beijing with no people in the shot. This is not what the Forbidden City is anymore. Anyway, nice try but it needs a little more work. |
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The bokeh in this photo is spectacular. The colors are crisp and alive. The low sun reflecting off of the blue of the wing is very nice. The detail brought out by the dof is great, you can even see the dirt that was knocked off the jay's feet when he landed on the sign. To be a "perfect pic" I would suggest a crop as getting closer to a wary jay would be a picture of an empty sign more likely than not. |
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I would definately crop closer on the bird and get rid of most of the background and sign(?) thing it is standing on--if it would not cause a loss of quality in the picture. Having taken lots of shots of birds, I know how hard it can be. However, getting closer would have been nice--or a better zoom. The colors are pretty crisp but the background has too much blur. Also, with the shot as it is, there is too much activity going on across the top and top left of the picture that is distracting. Good for a quick shot, but not wonderful. |
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The bird is nice and crisp and I like the DoF. Technically
I think it's a good picture.
For my taste there is too much background. To be honest, this photo, as it is now, doesn't invite me to take a closer look. |
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While the bird is sharp it is not the main focus. The rest of the world around it, including it's pedastal create a noise. It would be a better shot maybe if the angle were changed at that distance, One thing I try to do is make the lines have some sort of symetery (spelling?) this picture lacks that. |
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It is crisp and clear....i would crop as suggested and is just slightly too bright on the belly but otherwise a good one.... |
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Good shot. I'd have zoomed a bit closer / cropped it. Also, if possible moving the camera POV around to the right a bit to try to get the shadow out from behind the bird (highlighting it against as much of the bright bg as possible). |
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Nice DoF, pin sharp on the bird, but composition is way off - far too much background, the ugly shape of the "shelf" on which the bird is perched. Bright sun bathed grrens and yellows in the background are nice though. |
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I feel this shot would benefit from a tighter crop. I would typically add a note with a crop suggestion, but there's not much real estate left to add the crop I would suggest. Colors seem nice and natural. Sign seems to have a slight blue cast, but the foliage is very natural. Larger size reveals a bit of blur, but focus seems pretty decent overall. Exposure is a bit washed out in highlights, but good in midtones and bird feathers render a nice blue. |
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i like the picture, the lighting, the colors, and the bokeh are very pleasing. i think it would look more interesting with the subject off centre. also there's a bit too much sign. maybe a closer shot or a tighter crop would be better. |
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Nice bird, but you haven't done much to bring out the brightness, plus the bird's back appears to be washed out. I don't see what the sign adds. I think DOF could be reduced to reduce the background clutter. Finally, to me there is no WOW, that could come with the bird dominating the image or doing something exciting. |
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While I agree that the DOF and clarity are wonderful, I simply cannot find any interest in this photo. It isn't telling me a story, it is a photograph of a pretty bird. I would love to see this photo give more of a story, or have a concept behind it. |
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After all the above comments I don't think that I can say anything different. 100% sure that everyone agrees with the crop. I have looked at the picture at full size and it's quite sharp enought to get a good quality after cropping it. Still whatever the bird is sitting on is not so attractive, would have perfered a branch. Therefore, my score will reflect on the composition (minus) plus quality (plus). Overall, 30%/80% |
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well as they said the focus and colors of the bird are nice, the dof is ok, but the background is making the bird a bit small need some croping, if am going to make crop to this shot i'll leave some space in front of it head like if its looking at something |
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Very well focused, but somehow its standing out a bit too much... or not enoough- it seems like theres far too much green, its easy to get lost in the picture. awesome details though! |
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The details of the bird are very clear in the large size: precise focus and good angle. The composition is not appealing. On balance: |
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I think closer crop to the bird is needed, a vertical rectangle crop would goes along with bird's position. |
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the depth of feild is extremely good, though i find the left side of the bird just below the head seems to hv too much light... overall the photo is good,i like the colours and the sharpness of the photo. but i beleive it need a cropping, since your subject is small, the bird seems lost in space. |
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The clarity and definition of the bird itself are very nice, good focus, and good DoF. However, the sign detracts from the photo - if we knew what the sign said, it might add a story, if there was less sign it would go unnoticed, but there's enough for it to get in the way. For me though, the greater problem is the brightness of the background directly behind the bird, which draws the eye away from the bird, and would possibly be worse if any of the suggested crops were made. Lastly, the picture lacks an "angle", it's just a picture of a bird, albeit a very nice looking one. |
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Though the depth of field brings out the subject well and blurs the background it has also made a feature of the sign. Sadly this makes for a poor composition. The bird itself is not totally sharp and is not large enough to hold attention which is drawn into thinking about wider compositonal features whicha re flawed. I love birds and would shot them if they would stay for long enough for me. Most of the suggestions about croppig would make a better picture. I have added a crop suggestion which suggests a direction of arrival and a sense of movement in the picture. |
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I like the contrast of colours and focus of the bird against the background. The only problem I have with it is the size of the subject in the photo. The top and right need a little cropping so that (s)he is more toward the third and larger in the frame. |
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While the colors and saturation are quite vivid, and the amount of detail on the bluejay's wings are inspiring, I can't help but also feel that there is simply too much empty space surrounding the bird. He feels lost amongst it all, which is perfectly fine if that was your intent. I would suggest a vertical crop, minimizing the perch and enhancing the background of trees. Good potential! |
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Like the capture, but agree with all the comments about cropping. |
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I would give you 4 but you didn't frighten the bird, so I give you the 5. |
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Great DOF. I think the framing can be improved though by cropping it to a square format - crop off the left leaving the bird stil centre, or crop off the right leaving the bird off centre i think :-) |
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I think, that it is good work:) Can only a background much. Though if a bird to move it is a little more to the right and below.. I not so like on what the bird sits |
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It is a lovely bird and a wonderful sharp picture at the original size, so I think it would be far more intersting to see it cropped. it is a shame that there is shadow on his face, but at least his wonderful blue tail feathers are in the sun. |
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This photo needs to be cropped to add focus on the subject, which I think is the bird. The detail on the bird is wonderful, however overall the colors of the photo seem washed out. The lighting is well done. With just a few changes this photo could become far more interesting. Cheers! |
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Nice shot, I like DoF and light is well set, especially on the background. However, I don't like the sign where the bird is sitting, it is distracting from overall composition. But since birds are not posers, this is not a shame :) |
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For me there are two elements to the scoring, the techincal and the wow factor. Firstly I find this photo is well focused, good depth of field, well exposed with good contrast. But in terms of wow or plesurable viewing I find it well frankly plain. The subject is to small in proportion to he background. Some judicial croppping could have made the bird pop out of the picture. And so it doesn't score much on that point. |
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i like the DOF, focus and it is a good capture. I like that the bird is in the center (though agree w/ MiRea that for this wide of a shot an off-centered subject wd be better). My suggestion would be to crop the background around the bird and make it a vertical pic. |
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The focus looks good on the small photo, I like the mixture of the signage with the trees in the back ground. DOF is nice would like to see a little more detail in the back ground. All in all, as a person that tries to photo birds often this is a great shot. |
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This is a photo of a bird. I am sure it's not 'easy' to find a blue jay, but It's not the California Condor!!! |
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although the bird is well exposed I feel thatt it needs cropping to hilight the subject better, however it is still a worthwhile image, well done. |
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The bird has been shot very nicely. sharp all details are there but needs cropping a lot, |
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I like the pattern colors of the bird's tail and wings, and the blurring background gives the photo nice depth. The background colors have a nice contrast as well. I think I like Biffoto's crop best, putting the bird off center toward the right third of the photo. Too bad we can't get the caca out of the picture. The birds must love this sign! |
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I would like a more zoomed in shot. I also find the object the bird is perched on distracting. The dof is nice and the bird is clear though. |
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Bird is sharp, more crop should be applied to focus on the bird. The background is blurred but can be blurred further to prevent distraction. |
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It is nice but still feel something miss' in composition. It is a little empty, maybe, I am new and not still in condition to judge. |
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i love the green background with sunlight, which makes the viewers feel cheerful! but i think the bird should be "bigger" in this photo! ;p |
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To me this photo illustrates why it is important to open up the photos that you are rating to their full size. It looks much better enlarged. The details of the jay come through and are much more pleasing. Having said that the bird is still too small as compared to the background and the jay's colors seem a bit washed out. |
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Beautiful bird, but definately needs a tighter crop. I find the over-exposed tree, directly behind the bird, very distracting. I like the DOF created here |
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