Warbler up close

[Jay Bernstein]

Canon rebel xti
Canon 100-400mm 5.6L
ISO 400
F8
1/500

The warblers are really fast. I find if i just wait they will come to you instead of trying to chase fom branch to branch. I just stayed focused on this one branch.
i cleaaned upthe BG alittle bit as the pine needles were distracting.
Jay

[Julie Kenward]

Jay, how large of a crop is this? I ask because it feels really tight in the frame on the right side especially. I'd back up a bit and let the warbler have a little more room in his surroundings - especially on the side where he is looking into. I'm also noticing quite a bit of noise and a softness to the image which usually means it's a big crop.

I find the greens to be a bit over-yellowed. You might try either a hue/saturation adjustment or a selective color adjustment to try to tone them down a bit and move them more to the blue side of green.

The shadows across the bird's front chest area are a bit distracting. You're right to sit and wait for the bird rather than chasing them from tree to tree...but make sure you're positioning yourself so the light is working with you and not against you.

[Kevin Giannini]

Hello Jay,
What a beautiful warbler! In addition to what Julie mentioned about the tightness of the crop, I find the cloning that you did above the bird a little distracting, especially because I can see repeating patterns and it's not entirely 'clean' on the upper back of the bird. I'm sure the needles there before were distracting as well, perhaps a selective blur would have helped, or maybe a larger aperture would have helped for a shallower dof.
Regards,
Kevin

[Paul Guris]

I'd ease off on the crop a fair amount. The size of the bird and the way it's framed makes the bird almost look distorted somehow, though I can't put my finger on why. I'm even having trouble identifying it, though I'm thinking juv. Prairie Warbler.

I'd also like to see what it looks like with the pine needles in the background. I personally like the idea of an image showing the bird tucked into conifer needles.