mid-day snack

Hi, Sue -
Really nice little bird!
You had some harsh light and shadows to work against here..but good potential.
What editing program do you use?

General Suggestions to play with:
- crop tighter - I'd suggest leaving nothing but the bird , perch, and pine. The light and dark branches above the bird add nothing.You might have to clone in some extra "plain" space above the bird.
To see what I'm thinking, make an elongated circle with your thumb and forefinger and hold it in front of this image as posted...
- straighten a bit so that the perch is level
-bump up the red saturation a tad
See what you think!

Sandy r

Good eye to make very good editing suggestions. I use Elements 6 and Lightroom but my problem is that I am still a novice. Am reposting edited image. Thank you so much.

I liked the image to begin with, and yes, the repost is even better; the saturation boost really helped. Besides the pretty bird, I like the green pine branch. But since cropping is also a matter of taste, my view is that the bird could do with a little more space to the tail and to the top than in the repost You can never please everyone, you know But the comp itself is excellent.

Very good advice Sandy! This is how we learn

Sue,

You had some challenges in the light with some brighter light on the bird. I love the tones in the background and the perch. I like the cardinal's pose but wish she had turned her head ever so slightly to get a bit more light in the eye. If this were mine I'd crop a little from the top and some from the left side of the frame, but would leave the bottom and right side as is so there is room for the tail.

I pretty much like the crop as posted minus a bit from the top anda tad from the left. The second crop seems to tight by the tail for me. I like the birds pose and that you left the food in the mouth

Nice capture. If you are not using fill flash, this is an image that could really benefit from it. It would help you tame the contrast and bring some much need light into the eye. The repost crop is far too tight in the frame. The tail is nearly touching the edge. A little tighter crop would be nice, but not as much as you reposted.

This is better than any bird photography book! What great work, comments and repost Sue, love the repost but only would like to see little more room around the tail. Otherwise,