Northern Cardinal Strikes a Pose

[Doug Brown]

This Cardinal's head caught just the right amount of sun for a nice frame. You can see that the perch is somewhat shaded. I was lucky, because this was my favorite Cardinal frame from my time at Elephant Head.

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Canon 5D Mark III, 600mm, f/7.1, 1/1600, ISO 400, manual exposure, tripod, blind<embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0"><embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0">

[Vikram Agrawal]

what a delightful bird. I love feather detail and the thorny perch. thanks for sharing.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice pose and nicley saturated colours. Love the details in the red.

[dankearl]

Epic shot, about as nice a perch as you could ask for and great comp and framing.
A beautiful bird.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

It's beautiful Doug with a nice bg and perch. I really like the ha as well.

[Don Nelson]

Nice image
Maybe its just me, but I find the reds a little hot (255 in many of the pixels in the upper chest and side of head) on my calibrated monitors.
If this were my image, a little work and some light masking in those areas yields this image, which opens up the feather details in the areas I am talking about.
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[Jim Fenton]

I like Doug's color rendition a whole lot better personally.

Great pose, wonderful eye contact, love the background.

Really enjoy the light falling on the head and emphasizing that color wise.

[Peter Dexter]

Don good job, feather detail is indeed improved though original post is still appealing.

[Ishmeet Sahni]

A Beauty, with an amazing BG. Love the effect of the light on the beak. To me the colors look good.

[Colin Knight]

Awesome stuff Doug!

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a long and slender beauty this guy is (compare to the ones I see in my backyard)!! Perfect vertical composition for this perch and pose combo. The open and spread-out crest makes this image sing :-) I do wish the perch was sunlit too, but man that is one mighty fine cardinal picture!!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Doug, your comp works well, and what a great look back pose you managed in this. I really like the detail and sharpness, and those reds really stand out so well against that killer BG.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for attempting a repost Don. You've definitely made the detail in the reds more visible. I thought about bringing them down more than I did but I liked the increased saturation, and I felt that there was sufficient detail in the feathers in the OP. It's a matter of taste.

[rajojomanik]

That Cardinal sure posed for you. Nice head turn and perch.

[arash_hazeghi]

This is a classic Doug. love everything! super

[Doug Brown]

<embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0">Thanks for the comments everyone!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice bird, pose and perch (ouch!)
I would prefer a version between Don's and yours.

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful and colorful image. Sharp and well composed.

[Arno Ellmer]

What a striking image ,Doug ! I love the perfect pose , the beautiful colours and the great bg.