Bramblings are here

[Leander Khil]

http://www.khil.net/brambling_bpn.jpg

Brambling Fringilla montifringilla 21.1.2010

Nikon D300, 500/4 AF-S, ISO 200, f6.3, 1/320, fill-flash

Please feel free to comment and critique!

[Gal Shon]

I love them, always a joy seeing them.
I like the BG, perch and the open beak.
The image as a glassy look, maybe its the strong flash with the sharpening.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Welcome on board Leander. And what a start! lovely bird and image. Fill flash revealed the feather details great in here.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Good-looking specimen, eye contact, angle and BG. I might sharpen a bit less, give it a bit more room and it looks a bit overflashed as presented. Thanks for sharing!

P.S.: I added the 's' in the title.

[Markus Jais]

Beautiful shot.I like the open bill. Very good BG. Good sharpness. I agree with Axel on it looking a little bid overflashed. But only a tiny little bit.

Markus

[Mark Theriot]

Beautiful bird! Great detail and exposure.

Mark

[Randy Stout]

Leander:

Nice bird, agree about the over flashed comments.

You might try about -1/3 on the exposure overall, put the perch on an adjustment layer and with curves bring it down even further, painting in with a soft brush to taste. I tried it, seems more natural to me.

Cheers

Randy

[Leander Khil]

http://www.khil.net/brambling_bpn_repost2.jpg

Thanks a lot for all your constructive comments! I really appreciate it.
I processed it again, considering most of your points (toned down with curves, a little less sharpening)

What about this one? Does it still look over-flashed?

[Randy Stout]

Leander:

IMO, a significant improvement. The perch can still go darker for my tastes, but the repost is certainly better.

Cheers

Randy

[Morkel Erasmus]

repost works well! I would also look at lightening the beak a bit to keep it from blending in with the BG. pretty bird!