Summer Solstice

Seeing Karl's lovely Grasshopper Sparrow image the other day inspired me to try and salvage my one close encounter with this species a few days ago. I was sitting with the sun at my back, trying to entice one of these guys to pop up in proper lighting, when this one started singing right behind me. I turned and got a few backlit shots. I wasn't going to process this one at first, but my other images of these sparrows are too small in the frame. I resorted to some Levels adjustment on the bird, and a very slight (3%) Nik DE. I've rationalized that the backlighting adds to the summery feel. Unfortunately, when he raised his head and resumed singing, his head was largely obscured by the Aster stem. C&C appreciated.

D7000, 700mm, ISO 800, 1/800s @ f/7.1 manual, fill @ -2.0 EV. Tripod.

I really like the natural setting here, Bill. You dealt very well with the backlit situation.
This guy is one of the best looking sparrows, based on the pattern and colour, IMO.

Bill:

Glad you looked at it again! I like the repeating lines of the flower stems, the soft colors and bg.

Because the leaf just in front of him is brighter than the bird, it draws the eye a bit, so perhaps consider toning down the luminosity of that leaf just a bit.

Cheers

Randy

Pretty darned good and you did fine with the back lighting. The only thing that bugs me is the stalk and leaf right in front of the birdie....

Thanks all. I thought about cloning out that stalk and leaf, but figured it would look unbalanced. When I get a few minutes I'll try Randy's suggestion of toning down the leaf.

The lighting is great and your exposure work looks spot on. I enjoy the composition, particularly the flowers. I'm not bothered at all by the vegetation in front of the bird.

I've tried two reposts. This one tones down the brightness of the leaf in front of the bird, per Randy's fine suggestion. It is a definite improvement. Thanks. See next pane.

Here I've bitten the bullet and taken out the stem altogether. (The content-Aware Fill tool worked almost flawlessly here.) I'd love to know what you think. If you hadn't seen the OP, would this look unbalanced? Would the small left hand stem now look too lonely?

Any the above three, the OP, and the two reposts work well imo...When you start out with a great image to begin with, you still end up with a great image after tweaking it... :) I'm quite impressed with the seamless pp job in pane #8.