From my backyard setup using a feeder and hide. Canon 40D, 300mm 2.8L + 1.4TC, iso500, f/7.1, 1/200 sec and fill flash with 2 430 ex ii flashes. Camera and flashes in manual mode. Usual photoshop processing, small bit of food removed from the beak.
Very good lighting and colour specially the cardinal red which often looks orange when processed. The old log perch is also interesting. I would likely remove the two white specks in the bg. If it is snow, there are not enough flakes to set the mood.
Very nice image.
Composition is good and very good placement of subject.
Techs are working great too. Very exposure and post processing. Very nice details too.
Perch is little over powering in my opinion. It might be just me. I would go for a little smaller perch like thinner branches or lower the shooting angle to avoid OOF perch in the background.
Nice pose and techs. I agree about removing the two white specks. About the perch, If it were just the in focus part that was visible it would have been perfect. You can try to physically hide the OOF part by either carefully breaking it off (and then you could use that part as a second perch!), or rotating the whole thing in order to hide that area behind. It does have great character and would definitely keep it for future use.
P.S. I would probably remove the pin point catchlight found in the middle of the pupil.
I like the soft light, look-back pose and sharpness. Another vote for a smaller perch and removal of the bright spots in the BG. I would desaturate the reds a few points, this thread might interest you: http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=29869
Thanks for all the suggestions and critiques, very helpful. Here's a quick repost using Topaz Remask just to see what it might look like with the perch modified. This plugin leaves some unatural edges around the bird but just for fun...
Northern Cardinal
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