Hi everyone,
Posting after a long break. I got this bird earlier this month near the coast. The California Gnatcatcher has very limited limited range along the SoCal coast. It was a partially cloudy afternoon with the sun coming out occasionally which made the exposure somewhat challenging. For this shot the sun was on my left, fortunately, behind clouds. I increased the exposure by 0.5 in C1 pro during raw conversion. Removed a few distracting twigs from the bottom of the frame in PS. Also removed blue cast on the bird. NR with NI v8 and sharpening in PS.
Nikon D850 + 500mm f/5.6 PF
1/1600s
f/5.6
ISO 1250
Handheld