Safetly Tucked Awayby
scooter88Comment by CEJ: Hello from the Critique Club:
I have studied your image and have the following to offer:
Composition/perspective: I admit, after studying your image I still had to look at the description you supplied to know there was a bird there. Then I was able to see it. This may have hurt in the voting. Your straight on perspective makes it a bit hard to view - the DoF shows the center in focus, okay, but the feathers and sticks that are out of focus in the foreground I find to be distracting and make it even harder to spot your image. Perhaps a slight down looking perspective or even a greater DoF would help this or a tighter crop.
Light: natural light, again I think a perspective change may help make this area stronger. There are a lot of distinct shadow and light areas. So many that oppose each other it adds confusion to the shot. As above, a different crop would help this greatly.
Color: there are a lot of nice bold and subtle colors here. It would have been nice to see more of these contrasts brought out. This also may have helped to isolate and focus your subject since it is different from the surround nest.
Challenge: the idea is good and fits the challenge well. Where it falls off I think is in presenting the subject in such a way that it doesn't have to be searched for.
Overall/my opinion: I like the concept behind the image and think it is a great, fortuitous find. I found the image confusing in general which may be a part of the natural defense of the design. But I can see where it would have fallen short in the voter's eyes.
Photographer found comment helpful.
