Pretty shot. I'm not sure but on some birds their lower bill vibrates when they sing, which might have been going on here, especially given your 2500 shutter speed. I like your crop and the folliage but might try to lighten up that dark area on the lower right to make it match the background just above the foliage. The lower left seems a bit too dark to me as well. One think you might try is to run Topaz muliple times on separage layers. I find that it often adds sharpness where I don't want it. It might have done that here, on the little wisp of feathers below the head toward the back of the bird. They look sharper than the surrounding feathers. I find that by using Topaz for each Topaz adjustment on a separate layer it's easier for me to mask out what I don't want than using Topaz's tools. Their shapreing tool of DxO might be able to bring some sharpness to the lower bill but again I'd do that on a separate layer so that you can paint in the effec as much as you like and where you like.   Posted: 08/01/2026 17:51:14

The sharp details on the bird, and your having captured his singing are grand. The flair of the back feathers and his wary stare add to the story. The bird stands out well against the background bokeh. I would crop off the bottom half of the foliage on the bottom.   Posted: 08/08/2026 16:32:36

Polly, I'm always happy to see white crowned sparrows, since I don't see them often, and this is a very nice shot of one singing. I like how you positioned the sparrow on the left. The background is pretty and soft. I think I would just use the remove tool in PS to try to get rid of the dark leaf or bark in the bottom right. It does pull the eye. You could crop up a little if you wanted to, but be sure to leave room for the hidden part of the bird so that we can imagine it fully. The foliage in the top left makes for a nice frame but I would like the photo with that removed as well. Either way, it works!   Posted: 08/10/2026 12:44:04

I love to catch these little birds singing...it feels like a happy image to me. My first thought about sharpening the lower part of the beek would be to use the brush tool in LR to increase sharpening and contrast on that area only. For me the slightly out of focus foliage in the bottom is not a huge distraction, but the foliage in the top leftt corner is more of a concern. You might consider playing around with the crop. I see why you like the protrait orientation, but a landscape orientation might enable you to elimnate both of those problem areas withoug sacrificing a ton of pixels. Try it and see what you think.   Posted: 08/15/2026 14:57:56

Nice capture of this beautiful little bird singing his heart out. With nature photography we are always having to contend with foliage and it usually isn't where we want it. The foliage at the bottom doesn't bother me too much but cropping up a bit would reduce some of the out of focus areas. The foliage in the top left I find distracting and to me doesn't add to the image so I would remove it. I might consider a square crop or Sharon's suggestion of a landscape orientation. To me the bird looks sharp especially the eye. The softness of the lower bill doesn't bother me. Nicely done.   Posted: 08/17/2026 02:19:28

Nice image of a white crowned sparrow as I have not seen one before. Checking my bird book they are not in the range of South Florida even on their winter migrations. I have to agree with the others as to cropping out some of the foliage and Sharon's comment on a landscape format. I played a bit and reduced shadows a bit and then took the image to levels and options - dark and light believing it enhanced some of the feather details. Your thoughts?   Posted: 08/21/2026 17:06:06