Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Few days ago in a local wildlife refuge a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks flew in quite close. As colorful as the male is, I think the female is as attractive in her own right. C&C welcome.

D700, Nikon 500mm + 1.4x tc, 1/640, f8.0, ISO 1250, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley Gimbal Head.

Removed a few distracting branches in cs6. About 75% of FF.



Geoffrey

[andresleon]

The background is very nice and clean. I see very little noise for such high ISO so I think you did a good job with noise reduction. Feathers, beak and eye are sharp and clean, too. Very nice shot.

Probably no one else will have an issue with this, but for some reason I find the branch so perfectly aligned with the horizon that it takes a bit away from the overall composition. Again, this is not an issue at all, but just an observation in my part :)

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely BG and super pose! Details are great. It's hard to believe the female looks so different from the male.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Lovely grosbeak!
Nice inquisitive pose, light and eye contact. I wonder how this image would benefit if perch was placed in a diagonal line to create a different angle/effect.

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous sharpness, detail and colors, and I love the BG! I'm always tempter to do a little rotation for shots where the perch is horizontal, to give it a slightly more dynamic appearance.

[gail bisson]

I too, love the female grosbeak!
I like the IQ and the nice BG. How accomodating of her to place herself parallel to the camera sensor!
I agree that the perfectly horizontal branch is not as appealing as a diagonal but I think you can get away with it because of the coiled vine around it.
I see a green cast in the belly feathers from the perch and BG and would fix that if possible,
Gail

[David Salem]

Great looking side profile and the detail is killer, especially in the head. Has a 3D quality to it. Nice smooth BG and a good looking perch make for a real stunning shot. Well done

[Arthur Morris]

Probably no one else will have an issue with this, but for some reason I find the branch so perfectly aligned with the horizon that it takes a bit away from the overall composition. Again, this is not an issue at all, but just an observation in my part :)

Just for the record books, the perch is actually a bit higher on the left. Nice image. May have a bit of a yellow color cast...

[Karl Egressy]

Nice pose and clean background.