Sikra -- with repost

This was one of the shots that made up for a lack of tigers in Kanha National Park in India when I was there last year. These sparrowhawk like birds are quite abundant in the forests. Taken from the back of a jeep.

Canon EOS350D, Sigma 80-400 @ 400mm, f5.6 for 1/160 @ ISO 100

Bit of a cluttered background and the sun on the left side of its head is a bit distracting, but overall I was pleased since it had to be handheld.

Love to hear what you think

Hi Magnus well captured just a pity about the harsh lighting. On my monitor it could do with a bit more sharpening.
John

I have seen these lovely birds many time-good clear view but agree with John that it looks soft and extra sharpening may help

Dave

I agree with what been said, but nice pose, well captured.

By the time you give it a bit more in the processing department you should finish up with a decent on Magnus.

Major.

Hi Magnus,

Very nice capture!

Lovely! What a funny looking leg! I think you could tone down the highlights for balance. Then I agree a little more sharpening would help.

Had a look at some of the sharpening articles mentioned in other recent topics and tried to re-process a bit better. I toned down the highlights a bit, resized to 1200px, sharpened x2, resized again to 720px, one round of USM 30/0.2/0.0

How does this look?

Re-post brings out the best in an excellent shot.
Now go and clone out the twig running behind its head, and the other one below the tail!

Repost is excellent

Looks rather magenta - try adjusting the colour balance channels Red/Cyan -15, Green/Magenta +10 and Blue/Yellow +3.

The re-post looks much better. As Andy says, the colour balance isn't quite right. But once sorted out, you'll be left with a nice image.