Limpkin

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image of a Limpkin at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. I moved slightly off the light angle to move the tones/colors of the background where I wanted them in relation to the bird. The Limpkin is a bird endemic to Florida, although it may stray to southern Georgia. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED, camera and lens supported by a monopod
1/1250 F/7.1 Matrix Metering EV -1/3 ISO 1000 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 400mm
Post processing in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped slightly for composition and presentation

[John Mack]

The preening pose is nice. This would have made a nice vertical if conditions allowed. The two toned background is pretty neat.

[Robert Kimbrell]

I like the image Joe. The background colors and the way you split them really work for me. The Limpkin looks good as does the feather position.

[Brian Sump]

Joe, maybe it's just me but it feel's like just a touch of motion blur. For a portrait, it just doesn't give that critically sharp feel for me mainly from the eye upward.

Also, think you could reduce the blues in the shadows.

[Dorian Anderson]

If the image isn't perfectly sharp is like 9.75/10 for me. My bigger issues are the side lighting and feathers coming straight out of the viewing plane towards us. But I'm pretty uncreative with
lighting, so take the first part of that lightly. I do think the BG is very pretty, and I'm glad to hear it was deliberate.

[David Roach]

I love the sidelight and falloff with light and SH leading us to the eye/cheek. It would make a nice vertical as well. TFS

ps
Split BG different and cool...

[Joseph Przybyla]

If the image isn't perfectly sharp is like 9.75/10 for me. My bigger issues are the side lighting and feathers coming straight out of the viewing plane towards us. But I'm pretty uncreative with
lighting, so take the first part of that lightly. I do think the BG is very pretty, and I'm glad to hear it was deliberate.

Thanks Dorian, my eyes may be old but I see pretty good, I appreciated you confirming that the image was sharp. Thank you for viewing and commenting.

[Brian Sump]

Lol I'm sure your eyes are fine Joe. Just didn't feel dead nuts to me. Then again Artie thinks my eyes are broke because I like things bright and colorful :-)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.