Waxwing+Repost

Excellent Steve. You have captured the feather details so well. I do not usually see this level of detail. I like the dark background and the pose. The bright spot on the upper left hand side might be cloned out but this is not a big deal for me. The sharp eye and the yellow tipped tail keep my attention on the bird. I think this is my favorite waxwing image so far.

Harry

Very nice image, Steve. I like the pose and perch. The dramatic lighting is interesting, though I think if it were mine I would have added just a tiny bit of fill in ACR-largely a matter of choice there.

I like the contrast and shadows and how it highlights the waxwing (especially the yellow tail). I might try a vertical crop and see which way you like it better. Nice job on such a difficult shot.

The light is really interesting here. It's contrasty, but I really like it...how the front of the bird really pops from that dark green background. I think I too might try it as a vertical, maybe cutting off on the left to get rid of the one OOF light spot on the left edge?

Steve,

I like the dramatic light, the beautiful feather detail, pose and sharpness. I might also consider seeing how this looks as a vertical. Nicely seen & done.

Thank you everyone. As many of you suggested, here is a repost of the image as a vertical. I'm not sure about this one. The vertical does focus our attention more on the bird. However, now I think the dead leaves beneath the bird appear more important too. Also, to me the bird looks more cramped. The spot on the lhs is gone. However, I purposefully had left that in to break the monotony of the bg. It would be easy to clone it out without going to the vertical. I could now prune the dead leaves out.....but that seems to remove so much of the habitat. Your suggestions sure made me think more about this image!