Kestrel ,male (wild)+re crop etc

What a beautiful bird and you have captured him so well. Criky.

What a beautiful bird and you have captured him so well. Criky.

I think I'd crop out the bottom half of the post. Then it would look like a tree stump. Very nice, John. Background is a bit noisy. It seems that critical focus is on the back of the bird. At f11 I think the face should still be sharp, but it's not quite as sharp as the back.

Beautiful bird and nice pose you caught it in. I think I'd like to see a bit less post, maybe leave the top half of the rail?

The post works just fine for me. The colour and clarity are great and the pose is good. Since the post is somewhat integral to your image, I may have chosen f19-22???? I really like it. YOur kestrels have slightly different plumage - nice to see one! Good job.

I like the rustic post and composition as well. Looks just a touch dark to me. A very nice habitat shot though.

Thanks all.
There certainly seems to bee a slight front focus problem on this one. I,ll try a different crop shortly. Site very slow at the moment fo some reason.
Chers
JohnR

Beautiful subject and I think the post gives this a unique feel John. If mine I might play with a more vertical crop, cropping from the left. I agree with Charlie about the background noise. Love the head turn and glance back!

Here,s a retry. I've tried to sort the back out a bit, vertical crop and lightened a tad. I realise now I had mad a terrible job of cloning out the white poo on the post . never mind - next time I;ll clean it first !!

What worries me about the repost is that I have lost some of the habitat "feel".
Thanks for your interest.
JohnR

Beautiful subject in beautiful light John. I tend to have a vertical eye and could see some cropping options in that orientation. Aside from a bit of bg noise this is very nice indeed.

Oh, beautiful! What great colors and light, and bird and perch stand out so well from the background. As far as habitat/cropping, I'd crop just above the twigs at the bottom, but I don't think it needs to look like a stump, so I'd leave in part of the horizontal fence rail. Really nice, clear image.

Nice pose and light on the kestrel. I'm fine with rustic settings and this perch couldn't be more rustic. Mostly I'd like the post to be sharper.

John,
I am with Charlie. Less post would improve the shot. It almost looks like a post with a bird, rather than bird with a post. Nevertheless, it is a great shot.

Interesting views !!
Here's a final crop. Can't do much more there'll be nothing left !!
Cheers
JohnR

Lovely colors and great detail, nice head turn John.
I really like the overall comp and pleasant country setting here also..
Could call on the poop patrol action too
Very well done
PS - I prefer your original post.

Really nice shot of this beautiful bird! I prefer crop #2.