Boat-tailed with 2nd repost

Nice exposure and BG. For me, DOF is OK as long as the eye is in focus. Nice details on feathers. I like the way feet are positioned.

Very classy pose Angela. I agree that having the bird large in the frame is very attractive. With decent light and the D3 sensor I would expect a virtually noiseless background at 800 iso, but noise is quite evident. Did you sharpen the entire image perhaps. If so I would suggest selecting the bird only in PS for this procedure in this image. You might even be able to give an extra shot of USM to the tail to overcome some of the limited dof.

Thanks Gary.

Noise better. Must have picked that up in sharpening. Also some selective sharpening on the tail.

Yes, big improvement Angela. I forgot to add that I like the color gradation in your background. However, the addition of a few pixel wide border would help to define the frame at the top from the white screen. Someone else suggested that last bit a while back and I thought that was a good idea in certain cases.

Yes, Gary. I thought about that after I posted-and I think I may be too lazy to go at it again. In fact, now I see some halo around the feet and perch. Maybe this post was a bit pre-mature.

Nice perch, Angela. Great detail on feathers. I like it a lot.
Mauro

Sharp where it really counts Angela. Repost is better as far as noise goes. I like the comp and the way the bird is clinging to the post.

Angela,

I like the pose of the female grackle, the nice light in the eye and the head angle. I agree a bit more dof would have been nice to get the wing tips and tail in focus too. Repost looks better as far as noise goes. For me the very light, bright top does pull my eyes away from the bird. I might consider decreasing the exposure of the background to see if that would help.

Repost is nice. Pose is very flowing with position of feet. BG colors are very good.

A really nice photo Angela. You always seem to get good detail and exposure.

Ron Huff

Angela,
I think the repost works very well. I like the pose of the bird and especially the legs position. I agree with Mia about the bright top of the background.

You really did an often overlooked species justice! I love the claws.

With frame.

Very nice look at this Grackle, Angela. I like that headturn. Excellent detail where it counts. The repost looks much better as far as noise. Great job.