One of my favorite birds to practice my photography on: the nuthatch

Nuthatches abound in the woods in the Alameda open space. White-breasted with a blue-grey back, the nuthatch darts from branch to branch and tree to tree, and are very active little birds. They are so funny to watch as they often will go from the top of a branch to the bottom, and hanging upside down as though gravity is not a real thing. Nuthatches use their sharp beaks to pick out insects from the bark on trees as seen in the second and third picture. Being so active, they provide a photographer opportunities to take pictures of them in all kinds of light, honing one's skills as to what type of light produces the best results. 

What makes a 5-star picture, with 5 being the highest rank? I've been serious about photography for about a year now, the length of time I've owned my camera and birding/wildlife lenses. During this time my opinion has changed quite often. Does the picture have fine feather definition especially when magnified? Am I obeying the 'rule of thirds' where each picture is divided into thirds with two imaginary lines vertically and two lines horizontally making three columns, three rows, nine total sections, and how much do I care? Is the eye of the bird/animal in focus and does it draw your attention? Is the picture interesting? I read or watch a video or two from professional photographers every day. I'm constantly trying to improve, especially in the area of composition, where the picture is more like a piece of art. In the end though each picture and it's quality is up to two people. The person who took the photograph and the person viewing it. 

Below are three pictures of nuthatches. The bottom picture did not transfer the image cleanly as it appeared in the photography software. The second picture (in my opinion) is a five-star photo. When I grade my photographs I use certain photos as 'standards' that I base all of my work off of. In all three pictures the tree/branches is in pretty fine focus, but only in the second photo are the feathers in fine focus as well as everything else. The background is intentionally blurred; this is called 'bokeh' in photography.   








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