A better BG, but...

[Ignacio Yufera]

Another Southern Double-banded Sunbird on a Protea flower. These plants have many stems and the birds would choose them quite randomly; it was really difficult to get a clean BG. Pity that this guy was starting to moult out of its breeding plumage...

Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa.

Canon 1D MkIII, Canon 800 f/5.6; 1/200 s @ f/8, ISO 640

[Randy Stout]

Ignacio:

Strong colors here, with interesting subject.
I really like the composition with the multiple repeating lines.

In a perfect world, I wish the birds tail wasn't partially blocked, and might consider toning down the red patch at the top, it is so strong it pulls the eye away from the subject.
The birds head angle is just slightly away from the sensor plane, but it still works well for me.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Ignacio, Nice image. I like the background as I think the green compliments the flower and the colors on the bird. The bird activity/feeding is interesting. This might have been a situation that I would have tried a little fill-flash to lighten up the bird. More depth of field would have been nice but from your camera settings you had limited light and since I see good details in the bird the image works for me. I probably would have tried increasing my ISO to 800 in an attempt to gain an f-stop or shutter speed. If this were mine I would address a couple of issues in post processing. I would try and replace the red color in the upper left hand corner of the image. I would brighten the bird using curves and add a mask to limit the effect on the bird. I would also suggest to tone down the red on the breast of the bird as the reds a just a little bit clipped. Composition wise I find the bird a little tight to the side of the frame. If this were mine I would crop slightly different in an attempt to place the birds head in the upper right grid of the rule of thrids. I would cut off a little of the plant and add a little to behind the bird and at the bottom. I would also take just a little off the top. Just a suggestion. To demonstrate I attempted these edits in photoshop (hope you don't mind). Thanks for sharing your image.

[Ignacio Yufera]

Thanks for taking the trouble Phil, I appreciate the suggestions. Agree with the cropping, I kept trying to reach a compromise bird/flower. Tehre is enough space in the original, so I'll give it a try.

Best,

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Prefiero la original.
Stunning bird and good composition. The clean BG helps improve the composition here.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I love the OP Ignacio! Absolutely marvelous a capture. Love the pose, plumage and everything as a matter of fact. well done. :)