Flee!!!

[Kevin Leclaire]

This is a crop from a shot I took this morning at a local pond in Reston, VA. The GBH was very cooperative, making pass after pass through the water hunting minnows allowing me to refine my settings and timing. It wasn't until I downloaded the photos that I realized there were a dozen minnows jumping for their lives every time the GBH struck.

http://www.ultiphotos.com/img/v1/p903734842-4.jpg

D300, 500mm, F8, 1/2000, -1/3, ISO 1250.
PP: NR on BG, selective sharpening of the many eyes, additional exposure reduction.

I'd be curious to your thoughts in general, but specifically: are the lily flowers & BG distracting and did I leave enough room on the sides?

Thanks so much!

-Kevin W. Leclaire
www.ultiphotos.com (http://www.ultiphotos.com)

[Doug Brown]

You're a little snug on the left and also the bottom of the frame. I do find the lilies somewhat distracting; perhaps you could try toning them down before removing them. I like the action captured.

[Phil Ertel]

I also like the moment you captured. I especially like the minnows fleeing the heron. In addition to Doug's comments I think the image could benefit from a slight counter-clock-wise rotation (0.87%). Also for critiques I find your signature a bit large an therefore distracting. Thanks for sharing.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the minnows and your timing and the nice angle to the bird. Phil is right but this needs a decent amount of rotation. The heron is a young bird and the eye is sharp, but those lilies are distracting....

[Harshad Barve]

lovely action here , agreed on rotation , I dont mind lilies but will tone them down
TFS

[Kevin Leclaire]

I wanted to thank everyone for their comments. I will work on a repost when I have more time later this weekend, and will add a bit more to the left and bottom, adjust the rotation (at first I thought it was optical illusion as the line of the splash is at a different angle from the line of the background) and experiment with toning down or cloning out the lilies.

Artie, I have another shot I like with the heron at full extension in the opposite direction, but I could envision your comment that the HA is slightly away from the camera in that one, so I'm glad you like this one.

-Kevin
www.ultiphotos.com

[Chris van Rooyen]

Great action captured here and the head angle is very pleasing! I agree on removing the lilies and a bit of CCW rotation.