The second smallest bird!

[Richard Flack]

This little guy is a cape penduline tit and is the second smallest bird in southern Africa with its cousin the grey penduline tit being the smallest.
Super chuffed to get this close (in awesome morning light) to what is a very busy species.
ISO 500 f5 1/4000s 0 step very little post processing (bit of curve and vibrancy), sharpened for web
Look forward to your comments!

[Isaac Grant]

I love the pose and the perch against the clean background. Nice job getting it to sit still for you. I think the image could use a little more pop and would maybe up the saturation. Also I think this image has the same image quality I am used to on your shots. Maybe it is too big of a crop?

[Richard Flack]

Hi Isaac, thanks for taking the time and the comment. I have made a few adjustments based on your feedback. (In terms of pop, I think this is probably the best I can do without losing the integrity of the actual colours). The IQ should be good as this was a relatively small crop. I have attached a raw version as something may have reduced the IQ on the previous. Let me know if this is better on your screen, cheers, rich

[Isaac Grant]

I think that looks better for sure. Still looks a tiny bit crunchy to me. Not sure why. Maybe it is just a bit of a messy bird? Eager to see what others have to say.

[Mike Hitchen]

The OP is definitely 'crunchy' like there has been too much recovery but given you say there is little processing perhaps it is the 'sharpening for web' has been too strong (if you have done this as an option when creating the JPEG it can be a blunt instrument).
The repost is certainly better but the (very) out of focus tail suggests a painfully thin DOF which may be the issue but the feather detail still looks a tad over processed. The image may have been helped by going to f8 or more and with 1/4000 on a perched bird you had the latitude.

[Mike Hitchen]

As a follow-up - I have just had a look at your FB page and that image looks better than either of these. Maybe it is the BPN algorithm?

[Richard Flack]

Thanks so much Mike, really appreciate the input. Yah, not sure what happened as the original image is pretty sharp in the right places. Going up on the f stop is definitely an option if I wanted the tail in focus, but I guess this is subjective. I probably should have rattled off a couple of shots at a higher fstop to get both options. Thanks again!