This is our alpha Java rooster, Moonpie. He is a beautiful black bird. The challenge with this picture was both placement and light.

When you take pictures of a black subject one challenge is to capture the shiny surfaces of the hair or feathers. To get this right, you need to pick a day with good diffuse light and walk around the subject to find the right angles to capture the reflections. Here you can see the waxy feathers and the metallic greens common with black chickens.

Moonpie's red comb and head provides a natural focal point to place on the right intersection line. Here it is right of the right line which creates a bit of tension. The other dominant shape is the tree trunk that seems to form an arrow pointing to Moonpie.

This photo was selected as a magazine cover for the August/September issue of Backyard Poultry.