Northern Cardinal

[Sidharth Kodikal]

A setup from earlier this year. Seeds used to attract the bird to my perch (thanks to the tips in Alan's excellent e-books)

A very cloudy day and the winds were making it hard to keep my perches together.

Canon 1D4, 500mm
1/125, f8, iso 800, manual flash

Almost full frame. Snipped a couple of leaves in post.


All feedback appreciated.
Thanks.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, perch, HA, exposure, BG and composition. Complimentary berries and flowers are a nice touch. Excellent image Sidharth!

[Matthew Studebaker]

I tell you are a student of Mr. Murphy with this one. It looks very much like the type of image he helps create. Nice job on the reds and the amount of space in the frame.

[John Robinson]

The bird is great - exposure etc- everything . My only small nit is the berries look to be hanging wrongly- just the ones on the lft. Great shot though.
JR

[Grace Scalzo]

Sid, Gorgous red bird, nice perch and background. Please understand that this is just my opinion, but all the "decoration" at the bottom is causing my eye to continually drift downward and inspect it instead of the cardinal. It's just too busy for my simple brain.

[arash_hazeghi]

lovely pose and details, you did this setup masterfully by putting together a very handsome perch with a great combination of sides!

[christopher galeski]

nice image,nice BG,like the perch,nice light and a great pose.

[keith mitchell]

That bird really is stunning ,sitting on top of a nice perch with a good clean BG,excellent.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Thank you all for the comments.

Sid, Gorgous red bird, nice perch and background. Please understand that this is just my opinion, but all the "decoration" at the bottom is causing my eye to continually drift downward and inspect it instead of the cardinal. It's just too busy for my simple brain.

Thanks for the feedback, Grace. It's always welcomed. I do have a few Cardinal-on-a-stick shots but I tend to prefer images that offer more to see and discover.
The truth is that I was set up to get the bird on a more conventional flowery perch, but the strong winds kept knocking down my perch (along with the tripod it was tied to).
I improvised - went with a stronger perch that I dug into the ground and decorated it. If nothing else, I did learn a few lessons from the trip that will hopefully come in handy the next time I try setups.

[Holger Leyrer]

Great image, beautiful colors,nice perch and BG. Sharp with great details.