Critique Not technically perfect. But I like it.

[Friggs]

Hello,
I know the "rules" say the subject should be in focus. But rule number two is that rules can be broken. But I really like this shot of the hummingbird I got a few weeks ago. Yes just the face is in focus, but for me it makes it pop in the blur of the rest of the picture. Others I have shared it with have loved it and a Facebook group I shared it with gave overwhelming response to it. I thought I would share it here and see what you all think. At fist I did not like it, but others have opened my eyes to it.

Nikon D300 Nikon 70-300 VR @ 300mm

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DSC_8376_edited by William Friggle, on Flickr

Thanks,

 

[Darrell C]

nice perspective Bill, nice.

 

[Birdie]

The eye and head are in focus, which make this work for me. Nice shot!

Birdie

 

[Randy]

It doesn't work for me, I prefer more IF

 

[crashton]

I like it, works very well for me. Thanks for sharing Friggs.

 

[fishbio]

It works for me because the eye is in focus. I would have cropped of the bit of brown at the bottom.

Larry

 

[RickW]

I like it. Would it be "better" with more DOF? Perhaps yes if you were going for a hummer portrait, but a creamy background and sense of motion can be quite pleasing and effective. Not sure if the limited dof was intentional or accidental, but I have several "accidents" that turned out great. Had you not had the eye in focus, then it would not have worked.

 

[gorec]

Looks GREAT..
I am not good with Photoshop,I would get rid of the green background on the left on top of his wing.I find it a bit distracting.
NICE SHOT..

 

[Butlerkid]

It works for me because the eye, the top of the head and much of the bill are in focus. And the "head on" perspective is very interesting. Nice catch light. The exposure seems fine. I would guess that you could bring out a few more fine details in the head and eye.

Agree with Gorec that the green above his right (our left) wing is distracting. And I feel the crop is a little too tight. Perhaps a little more on both the left and right sides. Try cloning out the pink/brown part at the bottom to match the surrounding background.

 

[Retief]

The question is, what is your point? Or more to the point, what is the point of your image? If the point is to have a hummingbird in focus with no wing blur, than, frankly, this image sucks rocks, great big ones

If the point is to focus on the head of the hummingbird, I would crop all the way to the tips of the feathers on the right and bottom, so that every leading line leads right to the part in focus. The more I look at it, I might crop it even more.

Also notice that my comment on crop is diametrically opposed to Karen. This is all quite subjective, and really has a lot to do with what you want the image to "say". If this were mine, the head says it all, so I would crop to emphasize that. A wider crop shows more, and the blur still leads to the head. You can see that Randy likes more DOF and in-focus. I like a bit of wing-blur on hummingbirds, that way you know they were alive.

Which of those points of view are "technically" correct? Well, all of them, of course. Although I would have to admit that mine way is more correct than everybody else ......

Oh, two more things. I like it, and what do people on Facebook know anyway ......