Color looks very nice and true here Steve, and the detail in the head/eye area is wonderful. Well done.
I typically prefer a deeper DOF showing more detail throughout the length of the bird, but this may be the exact focal point you wanted to achieve for the viewer.
My only other suggestion is to run some NR on the BG and then tone down/darken it some as the bright colors compete with your subject and attract my eye a bit.
Lovely Gold Crowned Sparrow, I enjoyed seeing it.
Yes I chose a shallow depth of field because this bird had such an "eager beaver" look about it every time it returned to the feeder and I wanted to focus (so to speak) on that. You are right about the background Photinia hedge colours and noise. Thanks for the suggestion.
I really like the curious pose, neat mossy perch, and I'm OK with the dof...I personally only worry about dof on the subject when creating tight portraits. For full-body images like this I just focus on the eye and let dof fall-off wherever it may. Not sure what your settings were (always useful to include those) but if possible I probably would have wen with an even wider aperture to blur out the BG more. If nor possible you could do your setup father away from the BG. Another suggestion, if I may, is to frame the subject wider, with more room all around as here the feet are rather close to the bottom edge.
Gold Crowned Sparrow
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