First shot I like

[Clown]

Hi, This was taken on a dsc f717. Two days after purchasing the camera. I think the teracota wood fence behind the bird makes the shot not clean..what do you think?

[Michael]

Hi, This was taken on a dsc f717. Two days after purchasing the camera. I think the teracota wood fence behind the bird makes the shot not clean..what do you think?

I think you might be right about the terracotta in the background, it is a little distracting, but nothing you could not get rid of in PS. I just really like the moment you captured and if this is your first shot it's a great shot. It almost looks as if the bird is taunting the camera, I like it.

[Clown]

Thanks Michael. A good first critique. Made my night.

[Hindey]

I agree with everything Michael said; don't worry about the terracotta, that'll take you 2 minutes to remove in PS. That bird is definately a cheeky looking parrot! Captured a moment there, nice photo.

[Chunk]

Hi, This was taken on a dsc f717. Two days after purchasing the camera. I think the teracota wood fence behind the bird makes the shot not clean..what do you think?

I don't mind the out of focus color in the background here. If I were painting this scene I'd probably be adding something like that just to keep the BG from being TOO plain.
The angle of the branch and interesting pose of the bird make this a very nice shot.