Another shot from the unusual late May snowfall of a year ago. Of the hundreds of frames I shot in two or three hours, the ones with a touch of green were the most pleasing. Although I was focusing on birds throughout, I maintained at least a dim awareness of their surroundings, because every element in a shot is important. Backgrounds matter as much as the main subject. I've seen countless shots ruined by poor backgrounds. Been there, done that. I'm no Ansel.
Much of wildlife photography is instinctive. Once we lay the groundwork - find a subject, anticipate its behaviour, determine the POV and which lens we will use, etc. - random factors come into play. Some compelling action will happen, or it won't; the light will break for us, or it won't. And then there is the last second fine tuning. Perhaps here I should have taken one or two steps to the right, to separate the background branch from the top of the dove's head, but that might have spooked it and cost me a shot. At least the branch is out of focus, and part of a tangle of branches. We've all seen those family portraits with a tree or telephone pole sprouting from the top of Dad's head. Unlucky overlap.
Almost all the wildlife images we look at on Flickr - not all, but most - have been cropped during processing. In effect, we get to recompose, and often recover an image from earlier mistakes. And once again, attention to surrounding and background detail is critical. I had to leave the green in. Not only does it give the image a nice hit of colour, but it conveys information: this isn't winter, it's spring, an unusual time to see snow (except maybe across the prairie). It's a secondary visual component, but the image needs it.
Could I have shot this better? Yes, of course. Most images could be improved with minor - if not major - adjustments. (Get a catch light in the eye! Straighten that horizon!) But there's still a lot to like, and that includes the diffused light we've been talking about for several days. Light this good, this unusual, is a rarity. The birds themselves look extraordinarily beautiful, bathed in bouncing photons.
One more shot to come, and then we'll move on...
Photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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