Spent this past Sunday AM with a good friend photographing the Eastern Bluebirds as they recently just arrived back in Minnesota. This was a setup and the blue in the BG is a lake.
Nikon D300 ~ Nikkor 300mm F/2.8 with 1.4x Nikon TC ~ tripod. ISO 400 ~ F/6.3 ~ 1/1000 sec
Nice pose and eye contact in this portrait, Mike, and I like the BG, perch and setup COMP. Would wish for a little more room on the left, and maybe a little less at the bottom. Minor nit: you could tone down the specular highlights in the blue feathers. Beautiful - and nice to know that spring is on its way!
I like the palette of background hues in this image which compliment the subject well. Beautiful look bird in a good pose. A touch tight on the left hand side as mentioned previously.