I took a drive along one of the local bluebird trails a couple of weeks ago and found that one of the boxes is occupied, but the bluebirds would only perch on the nearby barbed wire or atop the nestbox itself. So I went back last week armed with a couple of perches, and fastened them to the barbed wire when both birds were out, and when they came back they immediately took to them. Photographed from the comfort of my car.
Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, natural light, handheld (lens resting on window opening), 1/160s., f/8, ISO 400, small crop for comp (85% FF), darkened pupil, darkened a couple of spots on the perch.
Great backside view. Light quality is soft and easy on the eyes. Bluebird looks great. Perfect dof on the perch and bird. Background is well controlled. Perch is fine, but perhaps something a bit more inspired could have been used... :) Great call on working with the birds where they were comfortable though.
Hi Dan, Ive always enjoyed the blues on this species, and this pose not only shows off the blues so well, but the feather detail on the wing too. Good DOF, love the perch to one side of the frame, and the bg works well.