Very challenging to photograph. They flit from perch to perch dropping into the grass to collect an insect
which means continually wading through knee-deep grass trying to keep the sun behind,
locate the bird in the viewfinder and grab focus before it flits off again.
A small bird about 12 cm shot at near closest focus.
R5 1/500 f9 iso2000 -0.3ev HH low setting sun. BG is the grassy vegetation.
PS2021 cropped, NR to BG, unsharp mask. Toned down the strong late sun reds a little.
Very cute bird here Colin, and I can relate to the behaviour as it is similar with some species over here too. Good light, OK perch. I find the bird a touch large in the frame, and the fine detail is just not present. I have a feeling the raw file is perfectly detailed (focus looks good), so I'm sure it is down to processing or resizing.
Colin there's something amiss to me regarding the plumage - some is smudgey/smeared and the sharpening looks a little awry. I don't understand the healing brush reference, if you don't require NR on the bird surely the easiest option is to make a mask? If it was Topaz I would suggest a sharpening value of 20-30 max.