Little Lady in the Holly...

Critiques appreciated...

 

I shot this through a window...

This photo is really, really GREAT!

Who says the male is more attractive and colorful when it comes to birds. You have proven this wrong with this capture she is a true beauty! Simply lovely little lady. Nice capture. Regards, Leslie

Jennifer, I enjoyed your beautiful winter wildlife photo, great shot, well done.

Beautiful shot. Lovely composition. Nice colors - regards - michel

Good shot. Beautiful photo. Love the snow on the Holly.

The color variety makes this image stand out! A fill in flash might have brought "life" to the bird's dark eyes. Well done Jenny, regards from Greece

Together these elements help to build a very fine nature photo. Great use of DoF, the pale tones of the surroundings and the contrast to the colourful bird is striking. An enjoyable capture.

red

 

green

 

warm tones

 

nice contrast

 

nicely done indeedy

What makes this shot work the most is the stark contrasts in tones and colors. Even though this is a female cardinal, whose colors are not nearly as striking as the males, the fact that the rest of the frame is essentially monochrome (with the exception of the muted greens of the leaves), really makes her stand out. The positive space to the right of the frame works very well as well, as she is placed on the left vertical third which really improves the composition. One of the first things that struck me about this photo was, given the depth of the snow on the leaves, that it looked like she was surrounded by cotton balls! Our eyes are naturally drawn to light objects. The "snowball" in the upper right corner, which because it is in the middle of the positive space and stands out against the darker background, commands your attention and is the beginning of a great diagonal leading line that goes straight to the bird.

Very well done, but now I have to go put on a sweater because this photo gave me a chill! :-)

Well done, very nice. I like the colored subject in the (almost) monochrome background. Regards, Gino