Female Cardinal

[Beth Goffe]

I took this 2 weekends ago in Central Park. The day started off partly sunny but it ended up completely cloudy, which is when this image was taken. I like the eye contact but wonder if the background is too busy?

40D, 100-400L, 1/160s, f/8, EC +1/3, ISO 640, flash fired, tripod

[Ramon M. Casares]

Hi, I like the light and detail here! BG looks a bit bussy but I like it too, the pose of the bird is a nit in IMHO as the bird looks kinda scared/sorpised, but as said, very nice and good composition! Congratulations!

[Terry Sohl]

The background is just fine for me. Enough OOF that it's not a dominant feature, but still enough to give a hint of the natural habitat. I'd probably clone out the flash catchlight in her eye, since there's also already another catchlight.

[Doug Brown]

I don't mind some habitat, but this one is a bit much for me. Do like the sharpness, and the perch is nice too.

[Todd Frost]

I too like the perch, I tried a vertical crop to eliminate some of the distraction on the left and saw a big improvement. You might give it a try. Exposure looks good as well as sharpness.

Todd

[Beth Goffe]

Thanks, all, for the comments. I didn't pay enough attention to the catchlight which, fortunately, is an easy fix. I'll definitely give the vertical crop suggestion a try, too.

[Jim Poor]

I like it pretty much as is. The one exception would be the stick / twig on the left edge that is in focus.

You could do a vignette that roughly matches the shape of the bird to draw the eye even more if you wanted to, but I don't think it is necessary.