Scarlett Tanager

Photo captured at my cabin in the Mountains of Virginia. Please critique!!!

Lovely capture of the tanager, Horace. I like including environmental elements, as you did with the dead tree, but I think it is maybe too much. Cropping out most of the vertical trunk, while leaving a good portion on the branch the bird is on might improve the image. Basically the OOF trunk is so prominent, I find it a distraction.

beautiful bird. nice capture also. my only problem with the tree trunk is that it's out of focus. when an object that size is out of focus i think it becomes something that distracts me. The bird, pose and everything else is great though.

Nice colors. I think good nature shots are somewhat documentary and you need sharp focus and clarity of the animal. In your shot, for example, I would like to see more of the feather detail. The obvious fix for that and the comments above about the out of focus tree, would be to decrease your aperture. Luckily, your bright sunny day would allow for that easily. Thanks for sharing.