Hello from the Critique Club
Let me try my hand at picking apart this photo for you, and hopefully you find it helpful. :)
Composition
Nothing wrong with the shot of a bird, but the combination of the darkness surrounding the creature and that freaky look in its eye, this guy scares me! My problems with the composition arise with the placement of the bird. He's too far right, if you had left a bit more space in front of him, the picture would probably yield a more pleasing 'rule of thirds' placement. The pole behind the bird is distracting as well, and if those are turds on the bannister... EWW!
Color
The red of the bannister is bright and saturated (bravo!), which leads me to believe this is the actual colour of the bird that you have captured. That said, there is a definite coldness to these colours which may add to the stark feel of the shot overall. Warmer tones, perhaps through some manipulation in photoshop might half softened up the harshness of the shot.
Focus
You have no problems with focus or DOF as far as I can see.
Lighting
This the root of the problem I think. You used your flash here to light this bird, which almost always destroys the true feel of a good picture. Onboard flash is harsh and has a tendency to wash out colours and characters while highlighting things that ought to be downplayed.
A softer form of light, allowing the bird to remain a part of its surrounding by leaving a bit of the natural darkness rather than like the poor thing is under the interrogation lights!
I agree that the use of flash on so close an object really gives it a "snap shot" feel which has the effect of turning off a more critical eye.
Subject matter
Birds are fauna, you nailed that one. :)
Overall
The subject matter (scary looking bird plus turds) combined with the use of your flash at close range are probably the single biggest factors in your score/placement. I am encouraged by your incorporation of colour with a plain coloured subject though, and your focus, which I think was spot on (though it might be a bit oversharp, probably from me looking too hard at the shot!) Happy shooting! :) |
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