Greg

Hi, Daniel. I’m not a wildlife photographer, but I’ll tell you what I see.

Beautiful bird. But the upper half of its beak seems blown out as well as behind the head and certain spots in the suet. Also, the dark spot in the background appears to me to be growing out of the bird’s head and is distracting.

I was wondering if anyone would mention the fairly sharp shadows. May have overstepped trying to light up all the detail in the petals. Could have done softer lighting and then brightened the petals locally in Camera Raw.

Thanks, Jasenka

Thanks, Rob!

Wow. No advice or ST comments come to mind.

I’m coming late to the party, but my first reaction to the original was based on the dark feet as well.

Hi Daniel,

Looks to me like you nailed the spot healing tool. However, I still like the wing (the fly’s right wing) in the original post. That post’s wing looks more realistic and translucent.

Wow. Beautiful fly and and a gorgeous capture.

Thank you, Dahlia 🙂

Thanks, Patrick!

Precisely. 🙂

That was easier than I thought it would be. See if this bg looks better.

Thanks, Rob. That makes it clearer for me.

Thank you, Frank, both for the solution and the complement. Wow, that second shot was like showing up in my underwear — exposing all my attempts to blacken the background. Not that I’m complaining. It was worth it to see what others see that I don’t even know is there.

I’ll have to learn some things before I can take your advice. My knowledge of…[Read more]

Thanks, Patrick, for the complements and for catching the light spots. The only one I can see is the one on the upper left. It’s time to get the calibration doohickey out again.

Thanks, Diane. Your help with my struggles regarding Vanitas composition was part of how I got here.

On, to the fun!!

Thank you very much, Federico. I looked up Flemish-style lighting and, among other things, found images from the Dutch (and Flemish?) Vanitas painters.  Looks like directional lighting from the side at first glance.

Interesting stuff.

Thanks, Rob. Much appreciated. 🙂

Hi, Sarthak

I agree with Jasenka. The blurriness detracts from a well composed shot. Was there a reason for using a high ISO? Sometimes I forget to change the ISO from a previous shoot.

Thanks for posting.

I’ve been staring at this image for quite a while. It certainly caught my eye, but I’m thinking perhaps if the brightest light wasn’t quite as bright? Then the subtle circles might be more prominent? But as you can tell by all the question marks in my comments, I’m not sure about this type of image. I imagine it would be difficult to get enough…[Read more]