Stare Down

[Art Kornienko]

10D, 300 F4L + 1.4, 200 ISO, F 5.6, 1/1000, Monopod

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice stare, sharpness is good too, some points:

1) The angle is not perfect the left eye (your right) is half visible and the beak is lost in the body, ideally you want to have the outline of the beak and eyes to be fully visible, avoid very steep angles.
2) light is a bit harsh some areas are blown.
3) perch is too thick and distract from subject IMO.

[Julie Kenward]

I agree. If you had been a step or two to the left, you might have captured a really nice side view of the bird. There is a bit too much shiny blown areas for me as well, but you could fix those with a little pp work. I'd consider cropping the bottom to just below the talons to remove the bulk of the perch.

Still, I'm drawn to this image...the stare and the detail in the feathers is compelling.

[Rene Quenneville]

Beautiful bird Art,

You could also have added some depth of field (feathers on the chest) by going to f/8 and ISO 400.