Pyrrhuloxia male on cactus stump

[Jake Levin]

Happy new year BPN! Wishing everybody great light, cooperative birds, and reliable cameras for 2019. I spent a morning at a photo spot where northern cardinals and pyrrhuloxia are abundant. It was my first time seeing the latter species, which, as far as I'm aware, has the only bird name in English that begins with five consecutive consonants! This shot is a slight crop of the original, with mostly mesquite bushes in the background and a dead cholla cactus as the perch. The females posed much more than the males did, but I did get this shot that I rather like (even though in an absolutely perfect world, the near leg wouldn't be casting a shadow on the far one)

7D mk II, 500mm f/4 IS, tripod mounted using a perch setup
1/1000 @ f/8, ISO 400
DPP/Photoshop, Neat Image noise reduction

Thanks for your C&C,
Jake

[John Mack]

The perch is neat and i like the pose. Image looks a little too bright. The background is great.

[Isaac Grant]

Great pose, great perch, great background. I agree that a highlight adjustment would finish this off nicely.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Highlights need to be toned down for sure. This image potential...

Nice perch, Head Angle and Background.

TFS

[Jake Levin]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Here's a rework with a highlights adjustment and just a little less brightness overall. Better?

[Dorian Anderson]

Very nice frame of this guy, but I think a portrait crop might work better. The bird and perch flow vertically and there is a lot of empty space on both sides of the frame. I'd also look
to warm the image a bit and try to squeeze some more color out of the BG (saturation). Right now it's technically solid frame but lacks the post-production pop it deserve/requires.