morning teaby
sulamkComment by Paul: I'm going through the entries, stopping at those images I feel have had the benefit of an unconventional eye and dwelling a little longer to try to see and appreciate what you saw. This is one of those images.
Positives: Bird pictures are 10 a penny in Free Studys, but not bird images like this. This one is altogether different and stopped me in my tracks. I need to try to explain why - which will be difficult, because I'm not entirely sure why it appeals so very much. If I try to analyse I find it, the rule of thirds thing is pretty well adhered too, perhaps that helps it settle in my brain, I also find the colour palette to be pleasing. If just cherry pick the things I like, I find myself dwelling on its imperfections... The blown areas, the chromatic aberration, the mainly soft focus, the shadow noise of an exposure-recovered image. There's your magic trick right there, you have turned technical limitations into a thing of beauty, you have crafted something with your edit and found, most perfectly, the sweet spot of your image.I haven't even spoken of the birdes themselves, the well-shown spread wing.... For me, the magic includes the way that your subjects become almost irrelevant.... It is the holistic nature of the image that so appeals, the balance, the resonance, the empathy of all the elements.
Critial stuff: there couldn't really be anything here.... To change one thing would be to change the whole.
Overall: I was ambushed by this image, it took me by surprise. That's a good thing.
Photographer found comment helpful.