Eastern Phoebe.

[Karl Egressy]

Only the head and breast are in focus but I really like the colorful background.
Thanks for looking.

Canon 5DM
Canon 500 f4.0 M2 +1.4x M3
ISO 1250
f7.1
1/500 s

[Diane Miller]

A sweet pose with beautiful detail! The shallow DOF works very well for me here.

This could be one where a very subtle darker vignette might work well.

[adrian dancy]

Karl, one or two points I'd like to make, but first can you tell me the size of crop applied? This image could be magical. The background is made of a child's 'story book' colours and you should milk all the artistic merit you can get from it because the softness and colours are to die for.

[keith mitchell]

Agree with Adrian about the Bg plenty to play with, the important bit is nicely in focus and the bird is giving us a very good pose, nice work Karl.

Keith.

[Karl Egressy]

Thanks, Diane, Adrian and Keith. The crop was fairly substantial as the distance was about 15 m and there was no way to get any closer. (Boardwalk.)
Cropped from 5760x3840 to 1894x1353.

[adrian dancy]

Thanks for the info Karl. I would be inclined for a much loser crop putting the bird in the top left hand corner where it may occupy much less of the frame i.e. if the back ground is consistent on the original image. If not, then you may consider carefully cloning and adding more canvass with the background shown in your image. In my humble opinion sharpening should be nil or minimal. This I one of those images where sharpness should not be a desirable factor if you are trying to achieve a fairy tale dream type image. The eye will need to remain sharp though.

[David Salem]

Nice frame with a beautiful colorful BG. I like the bird but it looks like the pose he gave you along with the f stop left most of the bird out of the DOF. I like frames like this sometimes as they accentuate the sharp head and only the head. I might selectively sharpen only the head one more time.
Well done Karl.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I'd take a sliver off top and left I think and maybe lighten the iris a little if it is lighter in life. The pupil seems to just disappear into it. Though it is still visible.
Nice work Karl.