Lovely plumage

[Jake Levin]

Couldn't resist the "dead parrot sketch" reference.

Another GatorLand egret with green lores and his long nuptial plumes. Did I commit a grave sin by cutting off the bottom of those long wing feathers? I was concentrating on that green face when taking the photo and spaced on the fact that the wings are just as important! There is a small crop in this image but the full size still cuts the feathers off before they end. All C&Cs welcome.

7D mkII, 500mm f/4 IS
1/3200 @ f/5.6, ISO 400
ACR conversion

[Michael Thompson]

The crop looks good to me, there is no "grave sin" in art lol. it stands out good from the nice dark background. I would like to see more sharpening added, and maybe tone down the brightness, and see if you can get more detail.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It's not a grave sin at all, but I personally feel the comp would be strengthened if you came up just enough to hide the leg. You would still have enough of those wispy feathers to make it work IMO. That is a beautiful breeding plumage you got it in, and the whites look good and pure. The egret stands out very nicely from the dark background.

[Bill Dix]

Lovely breeding plumage, standing out beautifully against the dark Gatorland BG. Crops are subjective, but this looks OK to me; I wouldn't mind a little more on top, even at the expense of a bit off the bottom. Maybe a touch of sharpening of the head and bill.

[Jake Levin]

I did the suggested sharpening. Does this crop appeal more? If I only expand canvas up at the same aspect ratio and don't reduce some of the space it creates, he has too much head room, so I did another slight crop from the top after filling in the blank canvas.

[Bill Dix]

I like it, and the extra sharpening helped, IMO.