Back-lit Black-capped

Here's what it looked like before I dimmed that bright light a little.

Really nice Wayne. I would tone that spot down radically more and also clone out those two smaller flare spots as well. On second thought, I would select out the bird and perch, invert the selection, and apply a gaussian blur to the background. This is an excellent image, and I think it would be worth that effort. Also, I would try to bring out a bit more detail in the blacks on the head and chin.

Like the pose and color on the bird -- often difficult to get a good look at a black eye comeing from a black head -- but eye looks good here -- the round light remains a distraction for me

This is a fine look at a tiny bird...hard to get these birds to fill as much frame as you have here. The pose is good, the softness and colors in the background work well and you've got a good catch light in the eye. I agree that further burning of the white area to the left of the bird would be an improvement (the rest of that white streak fits in well) and it looks like you can do that with out things getting "wierd".

Wayne, I like the head turn, the placement, etc. Of course the white BG has already been mentioned by you. I think it might not pull as bad with a little more burning, but I don't think you are going to completely rid the viewer of the distraction without cloning the BG to match the rest of the BG. (I think that would be a total PITA ...just my personal opinion). I still like it and think you did about everything you can do besides move to the left. While it does distract...I personally think it isn't glaring. Also want to say nice techs....details look great!

Hi Wayne,

The chickadee is awesome and I think that darkening that white spot may help. In my post of American Bittersweet, Phil gave me a method in photoshop to isolate the subject from the background and then clone out the distraction with ease. You may want to check that method out if you wanted to eliminate the spot......................Jim