A Bird

[ucci]

On reflection, nothing special. Just a Southern Magpie sitting in a gum tree seeking refuge from the heat in a bit of shade.
Thanks for viewing. And yes, I agree, it's probably nothing special that deserves a comment, I guess. But I reckon it is a good looking magpie and the soft colours of the gum tree caught my eye. They are usually much stronger and coarser than this. And these Southern Maggies are under threat of being bred out by the Northern variety who are inexorably taking over and moving Southwards. The 'days' of the Southern Magpie are numbered. Goodness knows what the Collingwood footie team will do when this finally happens. For Southern Maggies are their famous and well known mascot!
Okay, now, all you Aussies... one, two , three.... " Good old Collingwood forever....." Carn the 'pies!
Thanks for viewing
old ucci

[dje]

Okay, now, all you Aussies... one, two , three.... " Good old Collingwood forever....." Carn the 'pies!
Thanks for viewing
old ucci

Oh dear oh me, Ken, you can't be serious !

As far as the image is concerned, I like it. The light and colours work well I think.

Dave

[ucci]

Oh dear oh me, Ken, you can't be serious !

As far as the image is concerned, I like it. The light and colours work well I think.

Dave

Nah Dave! Relax. No need to get a case of the the colliewobbles. I was only joshing. With considerable embarrassment I have to 'fess even though a 5th generation Oz raised in Melbourne I don't care all that much for AFL. Thank you for your nice comment re the light and colours.
K

[jeeperman]

Its a cool image Ken. I too like the hi contrast bird against the almost pastel colors. They don't always like to pose for us as we would like but I think you did a decent job with what he gave you.

[ucci]

Thank you for your comments Paul. Much appreciated. I wasn't sure whether the light colours would work as an effect. But I am glad they seem to have done so. It was a bit of an experiment on which I was keen to get feed back from others.
Cheers
Ken

[Steve S]

Hi ken, i think it is a very nice photo. I really like the softer background colors. A couple things that i think would help it be a stronger image is to crop or give some more room on the left, and dodge the head and black feathers a little to bring out more detail. I gave it a quick crop and dodge so you can see the effect.........................

[ucci]

Hi Steve
Thanks for your useful feedback. Your dodge effect has certainly worked well. However as far as cropping is concerned I take your point about a stronger image. I had considered it before posting. I did in fact crop the shot before I posted it. But removing the branches on the left was not the effect I was looking for. I decided against cropping them as I wanted to retain the diagonal framing effect of the two branches on either side of the bird, seemingly putting it in a faux natural enclosure. I also felt the branches on the left added to the subtle pastel effect I saw when framing the shot. I also felt that that the branches on the left gave some sort of balance to the shot.It is hard for me to explain and I certainly am no expert in these matters and have probably got it all 'rze about' ;yet again! But I was trying to get a shot of the bird enclosed in its environment rather than putting too much focus on the bird per se.
Thanks for viewing and posting a helpful critique.
Cheers
Ken

[jamn4ex]

As much as I feel Steve to be the expert, I agree with Ken, I think in this image the environment around the subject is very pleasing..... course its hard not to consider the bird the main subject.