The perch is a bath I made a few years ago that sits above a rock pile near my blind. There’s a drip for it and a larger ground pond beside it, and they’re situated in a small copse of trees amongst our prairie setting, so they get quite a bit of action and a large variety of species. I’m pretty sure a pair of these have been nesting somewhere in the copse the last several years.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
I had a ray of sun sneaking through the overhead foliage onto the front of the bath and on a few grass blades. The grass blades I removed and the front of the bath I just burned a bit. Does it still look realistic?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Anything.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Sony a6500, FE200-600 @ 415 mm, tripod with ball head and Sidekick, f/8, 1/500, iso 1600, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Noise reduction with Neat Image. Small crop from the left. Taken today at 2:32 pm with a light haze filtering the sun.
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Looks fantastic Dennis. IMO, the blurred background is just right, set off the grosbeak detailed feathers and his eye very nicely. Looks like the sun coming through just a bit helped to set off the colors of this little fellow. Sound like all the critters in your yard have it pretty good. Great photo.
Superb color, detail and head turn. Even the perch works well.
I don’t see how it could get much better, Dennis. The details and color is outstanding in both the bird, background and pond. So glad you have such a nice setup for the birds, and works well for you with your camera and the blind. Looks like a nice natural habitat. It is a beautiful bird (hadn’t seen one of these before), and you sure captured a nice shot of her.
Excellent capture, Dennis! Color, exposure and clarity are exceptional and you did a good job with the post processing. Darkening the front of the bath was a good choice and didn’t hurt at all since it’s oof anyway. The a6500 & 200-600 is a pretty effective combination. I know I’m sure having fun with it 
Grosbeak has a really nice casual pose. I like the exposure and nice detail and well done on the finishing as well. That little loop of grass in bg does get my curiosity a bit and it would not take much to blend it away. A very interesting looking bird.
