Winter plumage

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

I took this a couple of weels ago in my back yard while just fooling around. I think the American Goldfinch is a great looking bird, even in his winter plumage. I would love to hear your comments as you have all helped me to become better at this art. Shooting data as follows:
Nikon D3S
2011:11:16 13:14:34
850mm
850mm (in 35mm film)
Subject dist: 8.4m
1/800 sec, f/5.6
Mode: Manual
Metering: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off
File size: 36.9MB
Image size: 2129 x 1457
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998):S3:

[wendell westfall]

Really pretty image. But I'd get rid of the vertical branch below the bird's back end.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Beautiful detail captured. Sweet BG as well. Do find the OOF branch a bit dis-tracting , but not sure how I would fix it.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the goldfinches and their winter plumages too! Good exposure and lots of details. Tech-wise I think this is one of your stronger images. These guys love niger seeds and readily come to tube feeders filled with this...you can setup a branch or two next to one of those feeders, in a more parallel-to-the-sensor kinda way to get less distracting OOF elements on the perch. Also be careful of processing artefacts such as on the branch at bottom edge.