SW junco in the snow

[Stan Cunningham]

Well, since I was supposed to be shooting with Robert at Gatorland this is the best substitute could come up with is shooting some birds in a rare AZ snow storm. Don't book a flight with Spirit Airlines, EVER.
I know some will say the background is too cluttered but I like some clutter. I also tried a reverse vignette to lighten the area around the bird to reduce the harshness of the twigs behind him. Curious what you guys think about it and know I will get an honest answer.
5D Mark III, 700 mm with 25 mm ext tube (500 F4 w 1.4 x).
5.6 at 1/320, on tripod, ISO 1000.
It was a good day but not what I had looked forward to for a couple months.
Comments always appreciated

[Nick Palmieri]

Exposue and pose on the bird look great. I think you could select the BG and darken it a bit and possibly add a little blur which would help to de-empahsize it. Did you try to darken the bird a tad???

[Shawn Zierman]

You did a very nice job composing the image in this natural setting...lots of visuals organized nicely.
I like the head angle of the junco too. PP wise, a slight selective boost in the darks/contrast on the bird
is worth considering...just for a bit more pop....

[Daniel Cadieux]

Sorry to hear you missed out on Florida!! I love the pose you got here with the junco. I'm digging the snow and the habitat for the most part, it's just the twig pointing at the head that I wish was not there (or at least not so close). Shawn is onto something about the contrast.

[Stan Cunningham]

The one in the back Daniel? And I'm planning on selecting the bird and bringing up the contrast and lowering exposure just a bit. Thanks for the comments as always.

[gail bisson]

I think this is lovely.
I would add a couple of points to the neutrals in selective coloring on the junco and selectively prune the branch on the right of the head with the 2 blobs of snow on it and also the OOF vertical bracnh that intersects with it.
Very nice,
Gail