Northern Cardinal - Bird Photos I want in 2014

[Henry Domke]

Here is a picture from this morning, my first picture of the year. It had so many problems that I'm just going to show you this severe crop. Even with the crop there is still an out of focus twig in the left bottom corner.
What do you think about tight head shots like this? What would improve it?
Thanks for your feedback and suggestions!

This year I intend to improve my bird photography skills by taking a lot more bird pictures and learning as much as I can from the feedback on this website.
I've never used blinds or setups before and this year I'm going to experiment with them intensely.

There are 4 birds I'm especially interested in photographing this year:
Northern Cardinal
Blue Jay
White-crowned Sparrow
Warbler (preferably one I haven't photographed before)

Happy New Year to all!

Canon 5D3 600II f/8 1/2500sec ISO 4,000 Tripod used
Tent used as a blind
Processed with Lightrooom 5 and Photoshop CC

[Karen Forderer]

I like the details in the feathers and the catchlight. The out of focus twig doesn't bother me.

[John Robinson]

I happen to be a big fan of close ups so this ticks a few boxes for me. Others hate 'em !!!Each to their own. Twig not a bother to me. I love detail.
Cheers
JR

[Holger Leyrer]

I like portraits. This is very good. What bothers me more as the highlighting twig is the stained (I do not know the English word) BG

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the details like the red just above the eye. I did another version to help eliminate the OOF twig in the lower left corner. I used the brightness/contrast adjustment in Photoshop. It could be done better with a little more time and attention. Nice image Henry.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

I like tight head shots and you've got nice details on this female. But I feel this needs a bit more room. I'd add some to the top and to the right.
I know some folks prefer detail in their BG, but the mottled BG makes the image too busy imho.
With setups, backgrounds will be easier to control.
Looking forward to your setup shots. Happy 2014 to you as well.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Henry,

You've got something going here, for sure. A bit of a tight crop and I think you've lost some IQ due to the amount that you've cropped.

If you are interested in setting up perches, I don't think you can beat Alan Murphy's eBooks or video series. I have the eBooks and they are definitely worth every penny. Lots of useful tips in each one. Haven't looked much into the video series, but here are two short videos that I found on Vimeo:





Hope 2014 brings out some great photography from you (and the rest of us)!

Miguel

[David Salem]

I like head shots allot, especially when they are razor sharp. Nice detail and exposure and I like Jim's repost. Well done

[Satish Ranadive]

Superb close up of beautiful bird. Beautiful colors, nice details and composition.Re post looks superb.

Regards,
Satish.