COOPERS HAWK

This is a very nice capture, but there is one thing that I do not like: The hawk itself is pretty dark, whereas in the background there are some areas of the brightest white. In my case, this has the effect that I cannot concentrate on the hawk, because my eyes always tend to slide towards the white speckles.

All the best,

Alex

I hear you Alex, but sometimes you take what you get!

Thanks for your comment!

This is a great image Bill, I agree with the comment about the brightness levels. The thing that gets me is that smilie face, it is really distracting, though it would be easy to wipe that smile right off that log in Photoshop! :-)

thank scott, but I love the smily face!

I think Scott is right Bill and I also think that simpler framing and stroking would do better for this wonderful image! Let's say just a tinny little black stroke and moderately sized white frames, worth trying black frames with gray stroke also! It might fit the image tones better! No emboss however and no ocker stroke, for that I'm sure!

PDE

hi Bill, nice shot! I like the smiley!

I like Scotts version with the brighter bird and no smiley.  I think I l like the original bg minus the bright white spots.  Perhaps they could be locally darkened or just cropped out, making a it into a portrait crop.  Thats my 2 cents, but in any even its a fine looking bird.

hi good shot... I too like to see this without smiley

Yep, another vote for the redo.  Looks like you have a heck of a back yard!