This is my latest Cardinal, a male this time.
I like the pose so processed a fairly difficult
(for me) image. Please take a look, and tell me
what you think. As always, I am grateful for any
C & C. Thanks.
Bob

Yea, male cardinals aren't easy to get them right. Yours looks overprocessed on my monitor I believe you need to pull some sliders back in your PP. Great pose anyway.
Socrate

Thank you, Socrate. I agree after looking at it again.
You are definitely right about Male Cardinals being
hard to do correctly. Your comments are much
appreciated.
Bob

Definitely overprocessed - but interesting !

Here is a revised image....less time spent
and an improvement,... I think. This bird was
difficult because he was partly in sun and
partly shaded/ But I really liked the pose.
Thank you for looking.
Bob

Much better Bob. If you used noise reduction, back off on it just a tad, otherwise, significantly better.

Ted

Bob, redone is far superior. Nice

Lil - - going back to my huge cleanup job after the wildfires... So no picks.....

You re-work was a nice improvement, also greatly improved the BG as well as overall color balance. A nice pose and a nice job on seeing what it took for the improvement.

Karl

Our local high schools are Cardinals and Hawks!! Go CARDS!

I like the revised image the most! The reds look natural! Nice capture!!!

I'm in the 2nd image being a huge improvement, Bob. Excellent shot with the new process job.

Ken

Thanks Socrate, Ted, Lil J.,Karl, Brenton, others and Ken
for your help and thoughtful remarks. I am continuing
to learn how to process images....better...with your
help and encouragement.
Bob

Re-work works better. I shot a cardinal recently, and the image really benefited from the new camera profiles in ACR; you may want to try them if you haven't already. Reds are a bugger, but even the print was improved.

Bob