Roseate Spoonbill

[Joseph Przybyla]

Yesterday I was sitting next to the vehicle on top of the banking leading to the water along Black Point Wildlife Drive. This bird was a short distance below me wading and feeding. I couldn't fit the whole bird in the frame, so I opted to try for a portrait. Image capture along Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Merritt Island, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF HH
1/1600 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV +2/3 ISO 2000 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

[John Mack]

I like the water drops on the back. The pose is nice as well.

[dankearl]

Nice pose. I think you were a bit close to get sharp focus..

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice pose. I think you were a bit close to get sharp focus..

Hi Dan, thank you for viewing and commenting. Also for providing another set of eyes, sometimes mine are not as good as I wish. Looking carefully at the images I picked the wrong one from the series. I think this one is better.

[Bill Dix]

Pros and cons of a fixed focal length. The zoom would have worked here, but on the plus side the 500 forced you into making a fine portrait of this iconic bird. The second image looks nice and sharp to me. I would love to get back to Merritt one of these days.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Pros and cons of a fixed focal length. The zoom would have worked here, but on the plus side the 500 forced you into making a fine portrait of this iconic bird. The second image looks nice and sharp to me. I would love to get back to Merritt one of these days.

Hi Bill, you are sure right regarding a fixed focal lens, it is a whole new learning experience. Thank you for viewing and commenting.

[Brian Sump]

Joe, second one definitely looks sharper to me.

One day I'll get some RS's in my file!

[Daniel Cadieux]

The second is sharper and all, but I much prefer the head angle in the first. Great birds that I miss a lot!

[Mike Poole]

Both nice frames, and yes the second is presented sharper. It looks like you processed these differently, maybe revisit the first to see if you can draw out more detail as it does score extra points in the head angle department

Mike

[Joseph Przybyla]

Both nice frames, and yes the second is presented sharper. It looks like you processed these differently, maybe revisit the first to see if you can draw out more detail as it does score extra points in the head angle department

Mike

Hi Mike thank you for viewing and commenting. The second image posted was a different image from a burst of three images. I always try to shoot in bursts of three or four images and most time one of them is sharper than the others. I didn't look at the images careful enough before I processed the first image posted. Also in the second image posted I changed the white balance in lightroom from as shot to cloudy. Thanks again Mike...

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the composition, colorful subject and the second image looks sharper to me as well. I would love to get this close to this bird! Nice image Joe!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Joseph ... a very nice subject .
Love the colors of the bird . Comp works well .
I do like the colors of the OP more , looking cleaner in terms of color .... better separation IMHO .
The second does look sharper , indeed .

TFS Andreas

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.