Michael,
It is rare to see bird shots that have the bird's body in focus and the wings blurred, so that to me is a real plus! It says that the bird is in motion!! The lighting on the bird is very good and the background is nicely blurred. It is even of a complementary color to the red bird (green). My only suggestion for improvement would be to either clone out the small branch on the left (it is very sharp and distracting), or blur the branch with PS gausian blur. .   Posted: 09/08/2023 14:11:52

I have to be some sort of geek but I looked at this and then went to y Photopills app to work it all out. I put in your distance to subject, lens focal length, 1.4TC and your aperture. According to Photopills you have just a fraction over 1 meter of DOF however 1/3 of that is in front of your focus point and 2/3 are behind your focus point. Since this bird is flying toward you you have just about 12 inches of sharpness to work with and this is constantly reducing as the bird moves toward you. That is a real challenge to maintain sharpness. I used to run into this problem when shooting eagles. I found that the trick to keeping the subject sharp was to focus on the bird/branch and then back up a full step without changing focus. That moves the in Ifocus area more to the front of the branch and includes ore of the area where the bird is flying. It really helps.

I do like the color palette, and the frantic action of the wings. I agree with david about the branch on the left it is just too bright. Good effort with this shot. getting the little guys flying toward you is really hard.

  Posted: 09/10/2023 12:45:43

What a coincidence! I did the exact same calculations before making the shot. No, actually the shot was quite accidental. I focused on the bird perched on the limb behind it in the image and did a burst of shots. I think/hope that the wide area continuous focus helped keep the bird sharp in the image. I've been trying different focus settings on birds in flight, but my success rate has been very low. This one probably belongs in the "lucky shot" category.   Posted: 09/10/2023 19:00:44

A real tough shot Michael. I have never been able to get that shot very well. I have tried and used the same tactic as you but can't get one that's to my satisfaction. I agree the color is really good and the face of the bird is pretty sharp. I tend to always be distracted by all the branches in this kind of environment but without removing all the branches I just have to accept that this is where the guy lives.   Posted: 09/12/2023 11:09:34

Wow this is pretty cool, having the bird coming right at you like this. I really like the blur of the wings, not only does it convey movement but the shape created is quite pleasing as well.
Regarding the branch on the left, is there any possibility to try this with a vertical crop that would remove it? I'm thinking with the straight-on action and relatively symmetrical pose, that might be appealing.
Getting a sharp image of a bird taking off does take some luck and timing. I guess the "pro capture" type features help with timing but I'm not sure about keeping focus. The newer generation of mirrorless cameras do seem to be faster with the focus and help with this so maybe in the future this will be "easier" haha. I've managed a few good takeoff shots with my Z8, but with birds going to the side not straight at me.   Posted: 09/12/2023 14:36:13

Michael, that is a unique capture, to be sure. I love the bird's color, and getting it in focus coming straight at you was quite a feat. I agree that the branches distract from the subject, your bird. As Cindy mentioned, a vertical crop would have helped significantly. Then, darkening the background much more to emphasize the bird would be dazzling.   Posted: 09/24/2023 11:56:45