Northern Cardinal on Harry Lauder

[Bee Emily]

I had been trying to get a shot of a darned male cardinal for a couple weeks and every time I moved a little to get the right angle, off he would fly.
This image was taken using my Kodak Z740 P&S in March of 2007 at approx mid-day.
1/350, f3.7, 380mm, iso 80, handheld.

[Tony Whitehead]

Sounds like you had a frustrating time trying to catch this guy, Bee. The midday light is harsh and not from the best angle but if the white was snow on the ground it was doing a good job of bouncing some light back up from below. The tortuous branch in front of him is a distraction especially the way it is pruned above his head - I guess this was what you were moving to try and eliminate. You could raise the black point in levels a little and maybe boost the saturation a bit. The image is soft and I suspect that this relates to the resolution of the P&S lens/sensor but some increased sharpening may improve web display. Look forward to more of your shots.

[Bee Emily]

Tony,
Thanks for your comments. Do you think the image would be better if the upper branch were cropped out? I have tried cloning it the branch out but I am not skilled enough to do that without ruining the shot altogether? I will try your other suggestions and repost when I can.
Thanks again

[Bee Emily]

Tony,
Does this look better? I cropped, increased saturation and adjusted the level.

[Tony Whitehead]

repost looks better - definitely focusses in on the bird more

[Doug Brown]

Welcome to BPN! Agree with Tony's excellent advice here. Try to work on getting yourself between the sun and the bird, and look for clean perches. Thanks for posting!