Limpkin

[Joseph Przybyla]

Dottie and I went to Circle B Bar Reserve yesterday morning. The day dawned overcast and dark, not very good for photography. This Limpkin landed on top of a small Bald Cypress and was trusting enough to allow me to approach close. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 340mm (510mm FFE)
1/1250 F/5.6 Matrix Metering + 1 EV ISO 720 AWB
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition, removed a couple green sprigs for the lower edge near the birds breast

[Shawn Zierman]

Wow, that's a great facial expression and a strong composition. Dof looks pretty dang good, though you could have zoomed back just a touch to get more critical focus on the end of the bill....The high key has more potential here than as presented imo...looks just a bit flat regarding the subject...maybe revisit the RAW file and push the exposure to the right then add a fair amount of contrast, then open it up and process it and see what you think...a touch of fill flash would have added some nice pop here too at the time of capture....

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent portrait, Joe. I would apply a little more sharpening to the eye and face, if it were mine.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Shawn and Karl, thank you for viewing, commenting and offering suggestions to improve the image. I went back to the drawing board, so to say, and worked on your suggestions. I like the results, here is a repost.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ah yes, the repost has much more punch, good job re-touching the image! Very good composition, and I like the high-key look. Well done, proving that there is no "bad light"...only "available light":c3:

[Bill Nuttall]

I keep coming back to look at this fascinating bird

Well done Joe and TFP

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Joe! The repost is a big improvement.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Excellent work mate. The repost really is an improvement in all respects. If anything, I'd love to have seen the bill tip razor sharp too. But that is not a biggie.