[Matty]

took this yesterday...



this is as i framed it, ive only sharpened and changed the levels, but i cant help feeling that i could have got a better shot out of this, so your comments and suggestions are welcomed!

[minimeeze]

The only thing I would do (and I hope you don't mind that i had a little play!) is to crop it a little tighter to draw more attention to the head. In your original, there is a lot of space around the bird, and I don't know why, but my eye is drawn to the yellow area on the neck. In the tighter crop, my eyes aren't wandering around so much. Just my opinion! Great shot btw

[Fangman]

It is a great shot indeed - what colours! I agree the tighter crop works for me.

It shows how we are spoilt with digital. This would have needed something like velvia to get the colours - then the wait to finish the film - processing - scanning in recent years but prior to that a night in the darkroom and the number of attempts to get a decent cibachrome print and the only hope of cropping to project would be black tape on the slide! And they call it the "good old days".

[jewel]

I think it's a great shot as is tbh. Nice and sharp. If anything just clip a wee bit off the top to balance the chompers low in the frame. As far as the space to the left of him goes, I like it cos he's looking into the space. Excellent shot Matty!

Jules

[barrymoir]

I had a slight play too, i hope you dont mind, i made a slight change to the colours using colour mechanics and run a slight sharpen with focus magic.

Great shot anyway so was really just playing

[Steve]

I wouldn't crop any from behind the parrot as the wing line leads you nicely into the shot. I would crop quite alot of the top and about half from infront though. All that is left after that is to improve the sharpness to get the max from the detail in there. It is a great picture anyway

[Matty]

i will have a go when i get home!

[heliomandra]

To my mind, it's more fundamental than technical refinements.

Parrots are fun because they are so intelligent. It comes across in the way they look at you and clown around. So I always think the best parrot shots are the ones where they're obviously sizing you up ... or just teasing you.

More generally, bird photography has progressed by leaps and bounds over the past 5-10 years, now that digital has made it less of an effort to carry both a scope and a camera. That's not to say bird portraits are out, but what's wows the birding community these days is an action shot which shows the bird's behaviour in a new light.

[Matty]

Originally Posted by heliomandra

To my mind, it's more fundamental than technical refinements.

Parrots are fun because they are so intelligent. It comes across in the way they look at you and clown around. So I always think the best parrot shots are the ones where they're obviously sizing you up ... or just teasing you.

More generally, bird photography has progressed by leaps and bounds over the past 5-10 years, now that digital has made it less of an effort to carry both a scope and a camera. That's not to say bird portraits are out, but what's wows the birding community these days is an action shot which shows the bird's behaviour in a new light.

Tis true....