Female Orchard Oriole --------
I have mentioned many times before how important the story telling aspect is for me in my wildlife photography. I prefer the environmental picture of an animal over the close up view. There is nothing wrong with a close up view, it is just not my personal preference. How the female Orchard Oriole gleans little insects from underneath the fresh leaves in the light of the morning sun is such an example. The photo is pretty much straight out of camera, no crop, just a slight correction of the white balance. The fall off from the lens around the edges works for this image, so I left it as it is.
On the other hand I love when a photo has an artistic appeal. To be honest, I didn’t realize when I pressed the shutter button for the second photo that the shape of the oriole’s head is perfectly framed by the fork of the cedar branch. To pronounce this effect even more I cropped the picture on top and left hand side and removed a story telling element in the lower right corner. Yes, there was an orange half and the story was actually about how the orioles approach this source of food at our feeders. My final version of this photo the more artistic approach doesn’t need the orange. It works perfectly without it.
In a perfect world both sides, the story telling and the esthetic aspects come together. These are the rare moments because nature isn’t always predictable, but aiming for them will stay on my agenda.
Male Orchard Oriole