Indigo Bunting

Claude,

Nice head angle on this one, I think you could try just a tad more sharpening

Nice job on this twitchy little bird. The color looks good, no unpleasant reflections that I can see, and the background fades away nicely. Looks pretty sharp but maybe another pass would pop it a little more.

Hi Claude, vibrant it is, but I might be because it's showing an untagged profile, so the saturation might be a bit more than it should be. If you have the image area then I might be tempted to move it up a fraction so it doesn't clip the tip of the leaves, not a deal breaker, just perhaps nicer??? With that kit you need a higher SS, so crank up the ISO, as the rule of thumb used to be ie 500mm lens you need 1/500SS, but you can get away with less however to get the sharpness & clarity a higher SS is better. The two main leaves look sharper on the larger version so perhaps the focus point wasn't quite spot on, can you check the RAW, it should tell you where it was, that might explain why the sharpness on the head isn't quite there. BKD works well and separates the subject well.

TFS
Steve

Very nice image of this bunting Claude, I agree that if you had the tips of those leaves at the bottom that would probably improve it. Love the colors and bg separation.

Beautiful bird! I agree with the suggestions already mentioned.

Great bird and perch. Some sharpening of the head would help...looks to me like focus was more on the belly of the bird. Still a nice capture...I've a hard time getting these in the open. Sharon

Colors look natural to me. This is a difficult species to expose properly and I think you did well on it. The "secret" for me at least is to avoid flash with this bird - it looks like you used just the natural light here.

You don't need a higher shutter speed with those optics as long as the gear is on a good tripod and the subject isn't moving. The "rule of thumb" for shutter speed equal to 1/(focal length) apples to hand holding a lens without image stabilization. However, a higher ISO here (I don't think twice about ISO 800 on my D300 bodies) could have allowed the lens to be stopped down another stop for a hair more depth of field.

That's one gorgeous looking bird, Claude, and a very fine shot of it. Small nits covered, but no big deal.

Beautiful bird, beautiful perch, beautiful image. No nits from me !

Simple and beautiful!!! Great bird, posing nicely, excellent details.

Sweet One Claude!!!

Ken Archer

I can't add any more suggestions Claude, looks everyone has already let you have it
Beautiful bird the Indigo, and you've done a very nice job of it here