This is at a set-up. This is about 40% of the original. Nikon D700, 300mm f2.8, 1.4tc, tripod. Adjusted wb and recovery in acr. Toned down the perch, s/h on bird and perch,color adjustment of bg, nr on bg. Very small usm in cs3.
Killer pose. Sharp with a perfect EXP. It seems that you are resistant to using thin, attractive perches :) The bird is a bit far forward in the frame and the large light circles are a distraction.
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The pose is super and I like the parallel lines between subject and perch. I agree said perch is not best though, and the comp could be strenghtened with additional cropping (at the risk of reduced IQ since this is already cropped much).
Thanks Daniel, this crop was really the best I could do. Any more expansion to the right would have entailed a good bit of cloning (my fault for choosing this perch.) With that bkgr it looked like a tough cloning job.