Waking up with the birds is a misnomer ...

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon 500/4 + 1.4x
1/1000 sec f/11 ISO 640

Viveza 2
CS6

Wish I had opened up the aperture a bit -- this guy was too fast for me. Also the oblique branch above and to the swallow's left would be better-off gone ...

Other than that ...

[Barry Ekstrand]

A magnificent shot, truly a great pose. I would try to clone out the BG branches to the left / behind , but really, for me this one stands on its own in any case.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Ian, I like the DOF the way it is. If you had opened up, then the perch branch would have gone out of DOF range in the lower right area. Terrific moment. And excellent positioning to keep area behind the head clean. I don't mind anything in the BG. the branches are OOF enough not to hurt the image. Composition is superb as well.

It can go a tad brighter perhaps.

[Karl Egressy]

I like the light and the nice feather details. With a head turn a little more towards us, it would have been even better.

[jack williamson]

You caught a great moment Ian, I think the image would benefit from reducing the brightness in the BG just a bit.

Jack

[Jim Thomas]

Great shot. Makes you wonder what he needs a mouth that big for! Love the light anf detail.

Jim