Wood Stork

[Joseph Przybyla]

Yesterday I spent an hour or so gaining the trust of this stork. I went to Lake Mirror, a lake in the center of Lakeland, Florida. Walking to an area where the birds like to come out of the water and rest I found the solitary Wood Stork. I approached him or her slowly, talking gently, chirping and clucking, finally lowering myself to it's level so not to loom above and over it. I sat admiring the bird (some may think they are ugly but I think differently). When the stork knelt and began grooming I knew it was comfortable with me close by. I watched as the storks legs bent forward (opposite of the way we kneel) lowering itself until it's knees were resting on the ground. This image was taken while the stork was kneeling as I sat a short distance away. 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 330mm (495mm FFE)
1/1000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 160 AWB
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition and presentation

[stuart wanuck]

gang busters nice image great whites you need to go with me to costa rica

[William Dickson]

Well done Joe, you got real close with this one, and it shows on the beautiful detail on the bird. Great work.

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Hey Joe, your certainly getting out & about with your camera it seems from your various postings, nice one.

Cool when subjects like this just ignore you and you can take your time. I like the overall comp, but feel some more DoF would have been better and an increase in SS as you had plenty of ISO to hand. The green provides a nice contrast to the plumage too. I think you can increase the whites a bit more before clipping and just open the Blacks & Shadows, but back in LR for best results. I would also reduce the blue creeping in on the back, you'll see where. Adding a Luminosity Curves adj with a hint more USM on the bill adds/creates more depth.

TFS
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joe, excellent sharp detail on the head of this fellow, and your choice of comp suits the pose. He does pop from the BG well enough.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Joe! I like the details, texture on the head, sharpness, clean BG and composition.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ooh, nicely done. I like the tight portrait comp. Nice details, good green BG. IMO adding a touch of reds in PS "Colour Balance", perhaps just 2-3 points, would warm up the image nicely.

Fun fact: What we think of backward bending "knees" on birds are actually their ankles - the actual knees are up way higher and usually hidden in the belly feathers:S3:

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, commenting, and suggesting improvements. Very much appreciated....