Black-faced Grassquit

[Raul Quinones]

Common visitor to my parents feeders.

Canon 40D, EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Date: 7/16/2009 5:55 PM
Location: Aguadilla, PR

1/250, F5.0, ISO 800, 500mm

C/C appreciated, Raul

[Doug Brown]

You nailed the sharpness in the eye Raul! The large area of pink behind the bird really draws the eye away from your subject; I would try to desaturate that area a bit. I would also tone down the perch. The angle of both the bird and the perch emphasize the shallow DOF; I wonder if you could have moved so that you were more square to the perch?

[Harshad Barve]

Loved the bird and image details , Rest of all good points covered by Doug
This is lovely picture
TFS

[Harold Davis]

excellent contact with the bird, raul!! agree with doug's assessment. great job with the small bird!!!

[Stu Bowie]

Super pose, and well exposed on the blacks. I agree, the brighter area behind the bird is a tad bright and distracting.

[Daniel Cadieux]

As posted you could crop away about half the empty space above...this would also somewhat help de-emphasize the distracting pink area. If this is a feeder set-up you could find a slightly thinner branch too for these smaller birds. Having said this, this is an extremely cute little fella, and you nailed the exposure!

[Raul Quinones]

Thanks all for recommendations, I have to spend more time on my parents backyard in my next trip. The pink (original red) has been de-sat... a lot. The plant is a bush similar to the Poinsettia, the local name is "Pascua eterna", loose translation "Eternal poinsettia", because all year around have dark red flowers, one of my mom favorites plants.