Northern Cardinal Strikes a Pose

This Cardinal's head caught just the right amount of sun for a nice frame. You can see that the perch is somewhat shaded. I was lucky, because this was my favorite Cardinal frame from my time at Elephant Head.



Canon 5D Mark III, 600mm, f/7.1, 1/1600, ISO 400, manual exposure, tripod, blind<embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0"><embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0">

what a delightful bird. I love feather detail and the thorny perch. thanks for sharing.

Nice pose and nicley saturated colours. Love the details in the red.

Epic shot, about as nice a perch as you could ask for and great comp and framing.
A beautiful bird.

It's beautiful Doug with a nice bg and perch. I really like the ha as well.

Nice image
Maybe its just me, but I find the reds a little hot (255 in many of the pixels in the upper chest and side of head) on my calibrated monitors.
If this were my image, a little work and some light masking in those areas yields this image, which opens up the feather details in the areas I am talking about.

I like Doug's color rendition a whole lot better personally.

Great pose, wonderful eye contact, love the background.

Really enjoy the light falling on the head and emphasizing that color wise.

Don good job, feather detail is indeed improved though original post is still appealing.

A Beauty, with an amazing BG. Love the effect of the light on the beak. To me the colors look good.

Awesome stuff Doug!

What a long and slender beauty this guy is (compare to the ones I see in my backyard)!! Perfect vertical composition for this perch and pose combo. The open and spread-out crest makes this image sing I do wish the perch was sunlit too, but man that is one mighty fine cardinal picture!!

Hi Doug, your comp works well, and what a great look back pose you managed in this. I really like the detail and sharpness, and those reds really stand out so well against that killer BG.

Thanks for attempting a repost Don. You've definitely made the detail in the reds more visible. I thought about bringing them down more than I did but I liked the increased saturation, and I felt that there was sufficient detail in the feathers in the OP. It's a matter of taste.

That Cardinal sure posed for you. Nice head turn and perch.

This is a classic Doug. love everything! super

<embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0">Thanks for the comments everyone!

Very nice bird, pose and perch (ouch!)
I would prefer a version between Don's and yours.

Beautiful and colorful image. Sharp and well composed.

What a striking image ,Doug ! I love the perfect pose , the beautiful colours and the great bg.