Rufous Hummingbird, male

Love the pose, the BG is nice as well. The detail and sharpness is excellent. Only nit would be the harsh light across his back.

It is a valid nit, John. I'm one who should pay more attention to details like this. Thanks for seeing it and saying so.

Charlie

Charlie, the detail on this is beautiful, and I love the pose and the catchlight in the eye.

Cute pose and bird Charlie. Looks to be some noise in the background

Glad you like it Barbara and thanks.

There is Ron. I do a bit to keep it minimal but being an Olympus user our smaller sensor is a bit more noisy. I'll look at this to see if I can improve it. Thanks.

I think I goofed because ISO 800 wasn't necessary that day. I believe I failed to check it and then liked the exposure otherwise.

"I think I goofed because ISO 800 wasn't necessary that day"

I did that very thing yesterday Charlie - shot an entire series of images at ISO 640 when I could have been at 400. One of the dangers of beginning your day at sunup and the light getting progressively (and quickly) brighter.

Delightful! Great pose and really nice detail!
Nice BG and perch too.
The harsh light along the back is not a problem for me, but you could try to dampen it a litle, if you wanted.
Fine image!
Sandy

Great subject and nice pose and perch. The crop, high ISO, and smaller sensor have taken their toll on IQ. It looks like noise reduction has been applied to the plumage and taken out a lot of the fine detail. I think you handled the light here just fine and don't mind some maxed out highlights with rim lighting.

Hi Sandy and Richard. This hummer gave such a delightful pose I had to present this, even with my flaws.

Charlie

It's a terrific, charming capture, Charlie. Others have already mentioned the nits. I'd add that you might be able to really improve this image in post-processing. Assuming you are using Photoshop, I'd pull the highlights down with the shadow/highlight tool, then select the bird with the magic wand, invert the selection, refine the edge and then apply noise reduction to everything but the bird. The lost detail, I think, is more a result of the heavy crop than anything else, so you might not be alb to do much about it.

Great details, comp, and POV, I especially like the terrific pose with eye contact Charlie.
Beautiful hummer the Rufous - I've never seen one here. I may try more than two feeders next year in April/May & see if I get lucky..
Well done Charlie

Thanks for that advice Jim. I do use an old version of Photoshop Elements and have never used or learned anything about "magic wand" I'll dig into it on this and learn some from this experience. I've been away for awhile and to tell you the truth other photo groups are to easy with the compliments and to light on critique. I'm, I think, a little better on some points of photography and worse in self critique before posting. The detailed critique here, as you all must know, is what many like me need to straighten up and do the necessary things to make our work the best it can be. Thanks again.

Charlie

I guess these hummers do come through your area. I was surprised to have one continue feeding all winter long here in Oregon. I had thought they could not survive the cold but we are more mild than the northeast US and I ket the feeder supplied and he was here nearlt everyday. The only other specie of hummer I've spotted is one lonely Anna's a few years ago.

Love the puffed up pose. Colors are nicely rendered.

I like the upward pose here Charlie, quality looks good for iso 800 and the crop, good to see you posting again

Wonderful image Charlie.
May