The bulk of warblers are starting to migrate through. Even though American Redstarts breed in this area, I suspect this is a migrant
from farther north as it was in an area where I hadn't seen one all summer. Of the few warbler species that breed in my area, these
are hands down the most difficult to image. Hyperactive with a penchant for staying in the tree tops(even when employing audio) make
it really difficult to catch them on an isolated branch. Out of nowhere, this bird landed on a reasonably close bare branch. I have to
admit I'm not a big fan of frontal images. The bird did rotate for a profile but the head ended up in deep shade. This was taken very
early in the morning. Primary processing was done with Topaz DeNoise AI. I find that it does a very good job of sharpening the bird
and de-noising the background on images like this where the bird is well isolated. More complex images with multiple objects in focus
can lead to some funky artifacts. If it's an image I don't plan on printing, it saves a lot of time. Straight size reduction.
What a lovely little bird! You've already mentioned the head being in deep shade. I understand how difficult it must've been to get this bird against a relatively clean BG, but I find the light OOF branches quite distracting unfortunately. I would also warm this image up just a touch. I like the bird's pose, I think it's very unique and adds an element of fun compared to a standard portrait. Nice detail in the oranges, they can be hard to tame but you've done well. Hopefully you'll nail this bird against a super smooth BG and in even better light
I love these warblers.
Although I like the bird, I am not crazy about that busy BG.
I do like the curve in the perch and the vertical crop. Oranges look good and I like the quirky head position,
Gail
This was very early in the morning and the overall hue was very warm. I might have gotten a little carried away with backing off on the warmth. Readjusted color balance adding back some warmth.
I prefer the repost Jack , very nice pose a slightly unusual pose - not seen too often. You tamed the highlights on the branch rather well.
Colours look good (you may wish to consider applying a HS layer and reducing the blues).