Trail of water

[Jay Tan]

I went to Langkawi island in Malaysia over the weekend to do some kite and eagle photography. There are tons of Brahminy Kites and White-bellied Fish Eagles in the area and they are very accustomed to human presence. Here is one of Brahminy Kite diving for pieces of chicken meat that the boatman had tossed into the water. Not sure what is the effect of long term feeding with chicken but they have been doing this for a long long time. We did witness them diving for real fish in the water too.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3255/2714737863_33ab406b19_o.jpg
1DM2N, 300mm+1.4xTC, f/6.3, 1/1250

Repost:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3063/2717265682_78a2c35b8e_o.jpg

[Ramon M. Casares]

TERRIFIC shot! Love it! I would've just crop the upper line in the BG as I find it a bit distracting, but as said, TERRIFIC. Congrats.

[Marc Mol]

Well captured, love the water droplet effect.
Perhaps a touch of USM may improve this already fine image.
Cheers
Marc

[Arthur Morris]

Very nicely done; wonderfully framed. I agree with Ramon about the dark line at the top and would also get rid of the speclar highlight above the bird's far wing.

[Jasper Doest]

I fully agree with Arthur....and must add that those droplets really make the photograph for me. Regarding the reflection, I would liked it better either with a full reflection or no reflection at all.

[Vincent Grafhorst]

This is awesome! The pose and composition is excellent and the droplets are so cool, but what I think makes this unique is the wonderful green reflections in the water. A pity it does not have a big fish in its claws though.

[Jim Fenton]

It is a great image, especially with that wing dpread and the water droplets.

I'd clone the water surface into the color line at the top, loose the partial reflection and also the spot just above the left wing.

Next, I'd print it and start selling it :)

[Fabs Forns]

Excellent capture, I agree with the comments about enhancing it, if it's within your pp ethics.

[Ken Watkins]

A wonderful capture, what a beautiful bird.

[Brian Wong]

Hi Jay!

I like this a lot, and agree with the suggestions above. I think it is interesting how the composition works with more room for the water splashes (and less room for the bird to fly into). And even though there is only a partial reflection of the bird, I see that you have the full reflection of the splashes ... and that the shape of the splashes, to my eyes, complete a nice diagonal with the bird.

[Jay Tan]

Thanks all for the kind comments and suggestions! I have done a repost above with the top distracting line cropped out and cloned out a couple of highlights. About removing the partial reflection, while I understand the rationale, but I also wonder if that would seem unnatural? It is almost natural to see a reflection in that part of the water given the way the bird is positioned etc, if we remove it, that would seem strange? Any thoughts on this is appreciated. :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The repost is a big improvement and great capture to begin with. Adding to the other comments, it needs about 0.6 degrees CCW rotation.