Sometimes you get lucky and the background turns out to enhance the photo. (You can also plan for that, of course, but in this case I was lucky.) I like the soft red/pink color of the background. I don’t even know what the red is. Other than a few small berries remaining from fall, there’s nothing red the background where this photo was taken following a recent snowfall in New England. The colors of the white-throated sparrow stand out with the light, pastel-like background.