Warbler in Gold

Bill the colours are gorgeous and it looks like a cute bird but to my eye your focus is sharper on the leaves at bottom right than it is on the bird itself. Composition wise, the twigs going in all directions make do not make this a relaxing image to look at.

HI Martin, thank you for the comment. Yes, I agree with the focus, a frequent issue unfortunately. It is also stronger in the ULC. Time to study up on my D90. The twigs... sorry, nothing I can do about them!!

Great pose and colors, but the focal point is definitely not on the bird, Bill. It may have been on the branch to the left. I'm not sure how you have your camera set up, but for small birds, I always use the smallest AF area available on the camera. This is particularly critical for birds that like shrubs and tress as the AF systems like the nice straight lines of the branches.

Pretty setting and I enjoy the bright colors of the bird and the little hanging seed pods. Softness is an issue and Dennis has a good point...try just one AF focus point and try to keep that right on the eye of the bird. Not easy with a warbler that tends to flit about quite readily! Sharon

In my experience these are hard birds to capture and it seems that I'm always disappointed with AF. If the bird is perched I'd use manual focus and see if you get a better result. The exposure looks dynamite.

Thanks again for the advice folks, I'm taking it all in!