Mountain Blue

[Steve Canuel]

Saw this male flying alongside a roadside fence. He kept landing on fenceposts in front of me as I drove. I was happy he landed on this mullein stalk and used it to scan for bugs in the grass below. I was in shadow from the mountains but still had light bouncing off some clouds. BG was pine trees on an opposite hill. Would've liked light on his face but I'll trade it for the rimlight on this one. 40D, 400DO + 2xTC, f10, 1/160s, ISO 800, -1/3 EC, braced on car window sill, slight crop on left and top.

[John Chardine]

Outstanding Steve. Great techs! Love the pose, perch, colour, BG and head angle (maybe slightly more rotation would be better?). There seems to be a little too much room on the right, as least for me. Anyway these are minor IMO. Very very nice.

[Julie Brown]

Steve, the color is just beautiful. Although you may have wished for light on the face, I like the soft light on the breast. Nice BG and detail in the eye. Outstanding image! :)

[Randy Stout]

Steve:
Very nice bird, like the overlapping primaries, soft blue color,perch.

If you have more below, I certainly could see this as a vertical. The lighting is effective for me.

Cheers

Randy

[Colin Knight]

Hats off to you for getting an image that sharp at 1/160s, even braced on a window! Well done!

A bit too much room on the right, everything else is stunning. Thanks for sharing and making us envious of your steady hands.

[Markus Jais]

I love those birds. They are so beautiful! Great shot. You really captured the beauty of this little fellow.
I like the soft light and the head angle.

Markus

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Steve, lovely soft light, and I like pastel blue of the little guy. You got lucky with the perch, and he stands out very well against the BG. Maybe just a little off the right???

[Dumay de Boulle]

Awesome detail and colour..Stands out beautifully against the grey BG. I like the comp. Would maybe just move the bird up a touch. Nice one Steve

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful bird! The perch seems like it was very nice too and for that reason I would have liked an original vertical with more of it showing. For me the HA, although not bad, needed to be a degree or two more towards us. Overall very nice feel to the image...

[Todd Frost]

Nice image of this beauty Steve. Exposure and detail look good. I like the chosen comp. TFS
Todd

[Steve Canuel]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Didn't get a chance at a vertical with more perch as he flew after the next pic.