Starling

[William Dickson]

Canon 5D Mkiii
Canon F/2.8 300mm with 2x iii
f/5.6
1/3200
ISO 1250

Thanks for having a look, any advice greatly appreciated

[gail bisson]

The bird looks great but the railing is not an ideal perch.
The BG could be "tamed" by using Tonal Contrast in NIK Efex Pro if you have it. You simply select the BG and move all the sliders in the tonal contrast panel to a negative value eg -50 to 75 for shadows and midtones and -75 for highlights.
Try it, you'll like it!
Gail

[Ian Wilson]

I agree with Gail, bird looks fine but the other elements of the composition not ideal. Nice light. Surface blur in PS with large radius setting might also help with the background.

[William Dickson]

Hi Gail

I have, and will try out NIK Efex Pro, never used it before, but I will give it a go. The perch is actually sand on the beach, with a rock covered in mussels and seaweed in the BG

Thanks for that Maybe not so much crop would be a good idea aswell.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Starlings are quite beautiful birds, and the light angle you got here nicely makes the iridescence shine. Good pose and head angle. I agree with the previous critiques (and thanks for the clarifications about the sand...)

[Andy Shepherd]

Love the iridescent sheen of the feathers, William. This is a species I really need to spend some time on, TFS.