Golden crowned kinglet male displaying

[Gene Herzberg]

Taken at our cabin near St. John's Newfoundland. Sony a700, 70-400 zoom at 400, 1/125, f 6.3. I tried cloning out the upper branch but my cloning skills aren't good enough yet to clone out the branch without resulting in a very blotchy background so in the end I liked it better with the branch than without because of the way the upper branch helps frame the bird.

Gene

[KurtPreston]

The upper branch doesn't bother me because of the posture of the bird, love that orange crest!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Lovely sharpness and love that crown! What a colour. Well done Gene.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

You can do the cloning, but it will be fiddly. I am not bothered by the natural surrounds as it is such a stunning bird. Great head angle too!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Gene,
I like it as presented, you have sharp details, a good head angle with a clear sharp eye and I like the low, side pose on your subject...well done...:cool:

[Gail Spitler]

Gene - great capture; even just seeing a displaying male GCKI up close is a rarity. The bird and perch are very sharp, so I'd be tempted to try to clone away the other branch when PS skills allow; it's oof-ness is distracting from the spectacular main subject.
Well done
Cheers
Gail

[Alfred Forns]

Will work with or without the branch Gene It is a lovely image. Would suggest to desaturate the red channel some, reds usually overcook all on their own !!! .... a little fill flash would have given a catch light which makes the eye livelier

[Lance Peters]

HI Gene - Gorgeous Bird and that crest - good details - head angle is good - congrats - I like it.

Would add some S/H and a touch of sharpening to the eye - think it will give it that little bit of lift that it needs.