NEWBIE Bird Shot. Critiques and Help please

[PropilotBW]

I've only been taking photography seriously for about a 8 months now. After reading a lot and surfing through TPF, this is what I've come up with.

What do you think? How can I make this shot better?

 

[Bo4key]

It looks pretty good to me. Maybe a little less headroom but if this is the original composition and not cropped, I don't mind it. Having tried shooting birds for the last year, I know it's very difficult to get a perfect composition when these little guys move around a lot.

 

[cgipson1]

A little brighter, a bit more contrast and some really minor sharpening... and a small crop to put the eye on the upright left 3rd line to emphasize the subject more. Also knocked down the bright spot on that cut branch....

 

[PropilotBW]

A little brighter, a bit more contrast and some really minor sharpening... and a small crop to put the eye on the upright left 3rd line to emphasize the subject more. Also knocked down the bright spot on that cut branch....

View attachment 35710

Thanks for the edit tips.

 

[coastalconn]

I actually really liked your image when I saw it. The stick in the background really distracted me. I went with about the same crop as cgipson1. I cloned out the stick in the background. Applied USM and high pass. I then masked the bird, inverted selection and removed noise in the background. adjusted shadows and highlights. added a touch of contrast, fill light and clarity. Just a different approach. I used PSP x4