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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

Australian Reed-Warbler

Photographed by

Ray Hastings on Tue 26th Sep, 2017 and uploaded on Wed 4th Oct, 2017 .

Resolution

1099x1050

Viewed

4485

27726

Comment

This was a first outing at this site and a first sighting for me of this bird, very much a grab shot before they disappeared into the reeds. I typically leave plenty of room around the subject for reference to habitat which I know is not to everyones taste!

Equipment

Nikon D5 + 400mm F2.8 +1.7ext (650mm) 1/1000, F7.1, ISO 360

Location

Callemondah Lake, Gladstone, Queensland

Keywords

adult

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Glenn Pure	2017-10-04 21:57:59	Ray, welcome to Birdlife Photography and thanks for your post to the Critique Gallery - I'm guessing your first post? There's nothing wrong with 'small in the frame' shots so you are most welcome to post them. They do have a use for showing birds in their environments. There are many positives with this shot and very few negatives. I background and reeds in this shot are really nice - they can often looking messy but look quite artistic in this shot. The bird is sharp where it matters (head and eyes) although with an environment shot, it is more likely that I'd want to see the whole bird in focus, particularly a small bird. Surprised it wasn't as you must have been some distance away. The tones and colours on the bird look good to me. It would be possible to lighten the shadowed back of the bird but that is not a big deal. The bird's perch looks very good and great that you've managed to get an unobstructed shot - which can be hard with this species. Regarding composition, if mine, I'd be tempted to take some off the bottom of the frame. Composition is a very subjective matter though and I think what you've done here is quite effective as well. So nothing to worry about. All in all, a nice frame.
Ray Hastings	2017-10-05 10:13:31	--Many thanks Glenn, I agree that the bird should be fully in focus but at the time I made the decision to use a wider aperture and focus on the eyes thereby not having the background sharp and distracting. Once again thank you for the feedback, it's all been taken onboard.
Ian Wilson	2017-10-05 15:56:07	Excellent critique from Glenn. I would like to add a couple of minor points. Regarding cropping, in bird photography, square crops do not usually work as well as landscape or portrait. There can be exceptions to this rule but most people find the squarish crops do not showcase the bird to best effect. For what it's worth, I would crop a bit off the top and bottom of your image leaving the bird's eye at about one-third down from the top. Glenn has noted that he expected more of the bird to be in sharp focus and I must agree. Unless you were very close, at f/7.1 and 650 mm, you should have most of the bird in sharp focus. It looks to me like your lens is slightly front focussed. If you want to go to the trouble, you could remove the shadow across the front of the bird by selecting the shadow with a soft-edged tool and raising the brightness a little.
Ray Hastings	2017-10-05 16:54:07	--Many thanks Ian
Ray Hastings	2017-10-05 16:54:10	--Many thanks Ian

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	27/283 in Critique Gallery
	1/5 by Ray Hastings
	41/115 of Australian Reed-Warbler
	41/115 of Reed-Warblers
	11179/34449 Overall
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