About the Image(s)

This time of the year I get a lot of bird action in my backyard. I have several feeders with perches for the birds to land on for their photo shoots. I have placed the perches at the height that is in line with my personal perch consisting of a patio chair behind the patio table which holds all my photo equipment and an ample supply of Coffee.That set up keeps me on the same focal plane as the birds I am photographing. I keep a good supply of mealworms for the Bluebirds, which they really like. This post/perch that this lady Bluebird is on has a natural cavity on the top which will hold a handful of worms. I found this perch along the bank of a saltwater canal on the north coast of Georgia.I am always looking for things to add to my backyard setup and it's nice to be able to change the sceney now and then. For this image I knew beforehand that the birds are going to land on that post so my camera is pre-focused on that spot.. Of course my camera is on a tripod so, once focused it is just a waiting game.
My equipment was my Nikon D500 and 300mm PF lens with a 1.4 convertor. There is a large tree that supplies a lot of shade to the area.The early sunlight coming at a low angle gives some light but I still have soft lighting because of the shade in the area. My camera settings for this shot were 1/1500 of a sec, and ISO of 1250. I know she was sitting still and I could have used a much lower speed and ISO but these birds never sit still for long, Shooting at F4.
While the original image is just OK it is a little flat. I used Lightroom's updated version with the masking features to warm up and brighten the image. I used the radial gradient mask for directional lighting on the Bluebird. I also used the Brush tool to add some darker exposures where I thought it would add some depth and definition to the image.