Ian, I like this little guy very much. Good exposure with great detail. Getting rid of the bg sticks with some blur woud make a pleasing complimentary bg. I'm picking up a halo, most evident under the beak. Could this be due to over sharpening? There is a thin pale rim on the top of the beak, head and back. Was the subject backlit? I'd also play with a vertical crop. These guys intelligently left our area. Wind chill a few nights ago was 40 below.
I agree with Gary, fabulous detail here but the large light colored oof branches in the BG are distracting. The perch itself appears to possibly be overexposed but you could do a selection here, put it on a separate layer and do a linear burn.
Great pose and placement in the frame, the pollen on the head sends it over the top. The BG colors really go with the bird. Looks like an adult female to me, any experts around? I don't think the sticks in front are any problem. I don't even mind the one in back, but agree it will be a distraction to some.
Lots to like here, nice use of flash and HHing with all that detail well done! Tell me about the flash how far were you from the subject and what compensation. I assume you used ETTL and I see you had high-speed synch on (sweet).
Composition is fine but much stronger with a smoother background. Maybe use clone, blur or content healing on CS5 if you have it. On balance well done, producing an image that is critically sharp take experience and is important in bird photography and that you have done.
Beautiful detail, and I love the colors and comp, although I might take a tiny bit off the top. Yes, I would definitely clone out the bright oof sticks, which I do find distracting. Without them this would be a killer image for me. Sharpening halo is noted.
Thanks. I'll go back in and back off a little on the sharpening and I will try a version without the bright sticks. Jeff, yes I used HSS on the flash, but don't remember what comp I used (I'm not at a place I can see if that's on my EXIF). I think I was at about 1:2, but not sure (430EX on-camera set to 50mm and BB). I was near the MFD for my 400mm which, if I remember correctly, is about 12 feet.
Thanks, really effective use of fill flash. Note the fine detail around the eye well done. As you know flash falls off so fast good thinking extending the light with a BB.
Hmmmmm...
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