Feb. 2014 GOTM

Delightful! A grand pose from this lady, true colours, sweet perch with the bit of snow - and the snow streaks add interest.
The large image seems soft - perhaps a bit more sharpening, or the addition of viveza structure?
I miss cardinals - sure wish the cardinals had made it to California. It irks me that they are in Florida and AZ, but not this far west yet!

Sandy

Great looking bird. I reckon abit of"oomph" would improve it lots . levels maybe ?
Nice image though- itdoes reflect thedreary conditions anyway.
Cheers
John

Beauty

I like this as posted and don't think it need any artificial bump in contrast.

Well taken! I like the pose of the cardinal as well as the streaked snow, good choice of shutter speed. Nice perch as well. Thanks for sharing.

Great mood with the snow, nice colors and details, very pleasing shot.

Ray

Nice work, Sharon. This would be fitting image for a greeting card or calendar. Well done.

Beautiful, Sharon. The bg color works very well with the Cardinal and I love the perch. Sweet head turn as well.

Wonderful shot Sharon, I like the pose and the snowy background really adds to the image, way to go.

neat capture Sharon.
the colours are lovely and rich without being over saturated and the slow shutter speed has elongated the falling snow beautifully.
Goo pose and perch too,

A bit more sharpening would be better IMHO. However, I just love the mood with the snow, the beautiful colours just popping off the screen.

Wow.. Excellent image, lovely pose, colors and the falling snow adds so much... , Hans

Hello Sharon

Well done with the very slow shutter., beautiful capture.

Bill

Beautiful image, Sharon! I love the pose, the bg, and the falling snow!

Sharon: I like this very much. I like the mood, the pose, the perch and the falling snow. As I noted when I contacted you offline, I agree with others that this needed a little punch. Here's a version with mid tone contrast. The mid tone mask was created using TK's luminosity masking actions. I've attached the layer stack and the curve I applied. As you can see it is a pretty extreme contrast adjustment, but because it it made through the mid tone mask it really works well. Hope this helps. Keith

Everyone...esp. Keith! Thanks very much for your comments and suggestions. I reworked this image and hope it looks better...I can't post a larger version...but to my eyes it does. I so appreciate your help! Sharon

Thank you all, and Nate and Keith, for the pick! Such a surprise, amongst so many other great images! I appreciate it! Sharon

Congratulations Sharon on the WP. It is a fine photograph.

Congrats on a really fine WP! Your improvements paid off nicely!

Sandy

Congrats on the WP - well-deserved ! , Hans