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Critiques [Translate]

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• Proframe (4058)
• [2007-06-07 19:09]

Beautiful bird image Reina.
Sharpness, clarity and exposure are great while colors, especially the contrast of them between the red of the bill and green color tones in the BG, are wonderful.
I also love the little catchlight in the eye if the bird very much.
Composition with the diagonal lines of the reed and bird is excellent, but I would like to have seen a little more space on the left side in front of the bird.
Nevertheless a real beauty. Thanks for sharing.
Kind regards and have a nice weekend, Harry

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• MMM (7240)
• [2007-06-07 19:25]

Hi Reina
Beautiful image.Sharpness and color are very nice .POV and DOF are excellent.I like the catchlight in the eye of that bird .
TFS Michel

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• eqshannon (21753)
• [2007-06-07 19:27]

It is almost as if he posed for you. He must like you eh? Absolutely the center of attention as the depth muted color scheme makes for a good backdrop and the anding perch a wonderful additional prop.

Bob Pacific NW Wilderness...

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• trinko (4310)
• [2007-06-07 20:30]
• [+]

nice focus good blurred background nice colors, although they seem a little off like there's color cast or something. nice pose by the bird

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• ldsouza (1343)
• [2007-06-07 22:27]

Beautifully sharp, excellent lighting, DOF, sat and BG. Like the diagonal comp of the reed.

TFS!!

Liezel

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• coasties (27526)
• [2007-06-08 2:02]

Hi Reina

Wow... this is a really nice shot. Lovely pose from your nicely feathered friend. Nice catchlight and awesome BG. Congrats!

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• Bufo (4241)
• [2007-06-08 2:43]
• [+]

Hoi Reina
mooie foto van deze zanger. Als de determinatie vanavond nog niet gelukt is zoek ik de soort thuis wel even op. De rode snavel komt er mooi uit tegen de vage achtergrond.
Ben het wel met Harry eens dat iets meer ruimte aan de linkerkant iets beter oogt.
Groeten,
JAcob

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• uleko (24815)
• [2007-06-08 4:17]

Hello Reina,
Beautiful capture of this colourful bird all in focus and showing sharp details of plumage. Beautiful colour of the background and a brilliant composition.
TFS and best wishes, Ulla

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• vanderschelden (27816)
• [2007-06-08 8:18]

Hi Reina,
Beautiful photograph.
Good compo.
Do not know the ID though...
TFS
Annick

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• PeterZ (9439)
• [2007-06-08 14:17]
• [+]

Hallo Reina,
Wat een prachtige foto. Ik heb het even nagekeken en volgens mij is dit een vrouwtje Dominikaner Wida, Pintailed Whydah (female), Vidua macroura. (Lijkt totaal niet op het mannetje).
Prachtige scherpte in de foto en fantastische compositie. Diepte in de foto en de achtergrond zijn ook perfect.
Groeten,
Peter

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• pvb (1815)
• [2007-06-08 15:41]

Hi Reina,
Prachtige vogels is dit en je hebt hem heel goed vastgelegd.
Grood scherp met veel details op het verenpak. Mooie hoek en gezichtspunt. Mooie kleuren en prachtige achtergrond.
groet Paula

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• cuckooroller (0)
• [2007-06-08 17:14]
• [+]

Hi Reina,
Post-breeding transitional adult male Vidua chalybeata is my take on the ID.

Nice bird.

EDIT: Yes, I agree with PeterZ in part. My Dutch is extremely bad but if I understand correctly he is saying this is a female Vidua macroura. I agree that it is macroura and should have noticed the color of the feet (eliminates Vidua chalybeata), however this is a transitioning male bird for me - for the tail length and for red beak (brown in the female).

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• manyee (20006)
• [2007-06-09 2:29]

Very sharp, Reina,
and gorgeous colors in a very pleasing composition.
I like his very orange bill.
TFS. : )

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• loot (9397)
• [2007-06-09 16:47]
• [3]

Hi Reina

Can I chip in on the ID debate? I agree with Peter on the species being a Pin-tailed Whydah - Vidua macroura however I believe it is a non-breeding male bird (transitional phase). The non-breeding male and female looks much alike with the only real difference being the male has a bright red bill and the female has a brownish bill. The breeding male looks completely different though with a solid black head above, a white collar and underparts, black back, and long black pintails (22cm). This means that in Steve's (cuckooroler) final conclusion he actually arrived at the correct ID.

A lovely posting with great natural colours, sharp details, and excellent lighting. The OOF and well isolated BG is amazing. The composition is fine although the cropping on the left might be a bit too tight. A little more space in front of the bird would have been nice.

Well done and TFS.
Regards
Loot

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• snowfalken (1780)
• [2007-06-13 11:22]
• [+]

Hello Reina,

What a wonderful and colorful bird you have captured here! I really like the red beak! The quality of the picture is very good!

Composition:

Your composition has both strong and weak points! What I appreciate most in your composition is the simplicity and the lack of distracting objects! You only kept in your picture what you wanted to show to the viewer. The blurred background is perfect! It makes the bird stand out. I also like the clean silhouette which is perfectly readable against the background! Eye contact is also great!
On the weak side is the way you distributed the empty space around the subject. I would have loved to see more space in front of the bird than behind it. Also, I guess using a landscape format would have yielded nice results since it would have been easier to have more space in front of the bird.

Colors:

The colors are warm and beautiful! They are well saturated and look natural. The red beak is the cherry on the cake! The white balance was set to render warm colors so I thought the picture was taken in sunlight.

Contrast:

Very good distribution of the contrast with strong contrast in the foreground and low contrast in the background!

Exposure:

Exposure is spot on with no details lost in highlights or shadows! You also captured great catchlights in the bird's eye! There are no harsh shadows on the subject!

Focus:

Very good focus on the subject with excellently controlled DOF. The details in the bird are sharp and the background is perfectly blurred.

A great capture with nice colors and good sharpness! I wish the notes were a bit more detailed. Thanks for sharing!

With Friendly Regards,
Eddie

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• CTP (3183)
• [2007-06-13 11:53]

Hi Reina.
Excellent capture of this beautiful bird.
I like your colors,dof,blurred bg,focus,sharpness and bird's pose.TFS
Chris

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• EOSF1 (23093)
• [2007-09-23 16:32]

Hello Reina ! Wow that's an incredible bird shot with a great composition, super sharpness and an exposure second to none. Well done on that great bird !

Mario