First time using fill flash...

[Colin Knight]

....for birds. Today was a very cloudy day, great time to try it out!

50D + 380 EX Speedlight + 400mm f5.6, Manual, ISO 2000, Flash comp +2, 1/1000

Now, how would you crop? Keep all of the tree of part of it?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose and the exposure looks good, too. You can probably choose a lower FEC in this situation. I find the trunk in the foreground too prominent. Could you have moved to your left?

[Colin Knight]

Thanks!
Those little guys are so quick that I don't think I would have had enough time to move around. It probably needs to be cropped out though.

[Juan Aragonés]

The fill flash light is very intense to my taste, the head turn is not the best and the shooting angle seems to be a bit stepped. Too bad that the BG is almost white resulting in a reduced contrast between BG and bird (both are almost the same colour). Next time try to reduce the output of the flash, wait for a better head turn and look for a position with a clean or less distracting background. Keeping on mind this kind is the way to go and if you do that next time I am sure that you will see how your result improve ;)

By the way, wellcome on board :)

[Colin Knight]

Thanks for that constructive criticism!