Blue grosbeak

[Mack Hicks]

Wildlife viewing/feeding/watering station at Davis Mountains State Park last week. There were plenty of blue and blackheaded grosbeaks present. They would like to sit on branches before heading to the feeders or ground feeding. This is cropped to about 5 mp from 12 to get rid of some unwanted elements, branches and roof of a feeder in the foreground.
D700 500 f/4 tripod mounted with custom bracket gimbal and flash mount, SB900 1/16th manual
ISO 800 1/200 f/4.5

PP LR3 camera standard, clarity and vibrance increased, sharpened and noise reduction, I decreased the luminance and saturation in the blue channel, but still am not completely thrilled with the color rendition. Appreciated your comments and suggestions.

[Mike Milicia]

Great perch and BG and love your composition!

I'm not a big fan of the head position. Wish the bill did not merge so much with the body.

[Randy Stout]

Mack:

Agree with Mike, nice perch and BG. I would crop a bit tighter from top and left, if the IQ will tolerate.

Agree about the blue, still looks a bit much.

I don't have PS on this machine, so will let others try and tweak the blue a bit more for you.

Cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

I really like the perch originating up top, but I'm going to cast another vote for a tighter crop. The blues in the bird look good, but there does seem to be an overall blueish cast. A better head angle would have strengthened this image.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Really nice perch and colors on the bird. Tighten it up for sureI agree.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Although a tight crop would work, I do like all the space around. The perch coming in diagonally from the top is just awesome.
I'd play with the WB a bit.

[Richard Unsworth]

Nice pose and perch/compo and these are lovely birds
Blue is wrong for me and IQ not good IMO, feet look slightly odd/contrasty?