Black-crowned Night-Heron

[Graeme Sheppard]

Taken at Laem Phak Bia, Thailand. Any feedback wanted, I may be too attached to this photo to critique it properly at the moment!

Canon 7D w/ 400mm f5.6 lens, handheld from the car.
1/500s, ISO 100, spot metering on the bird +2/3 EV.

http://aportraitofnature.com/photo-uploads/Black-crowned-Night-Heron.jpg

[Connie Mier]

The exposure looks very good and I like the bg with this bird. Nice light. My eyes are not seeing a focus point, and I want to see it on the bird's eye but am not. Not sure I like this crop, I'd prefer a tighter one with the head and neck or one that shows the entire bird.

[Dave Blinder]

HI Graeme, great head angle and lighting. I am also not seeing a focusing point on the image... not to mention the plumage on its neck shows no sharpness. What was the aperture setting here? Showing the original frame might help too.

[Graeme Sheppard]

Thanks for the great comments. You're perfectly right about the slightly soft plumage, I guess I'd overlooked it since I love the lighting and colours. I should probably wait a few days before posting here so I pick up these things myself.
It was at f/5.6, but clearly with ISO down at 100 I should have increased the depth of field somewhat. Next time!

This is the full frame. Cropping in to the head more could help, but now I've done it the softness shows up on the beak tip and head, so I haven't bothered to upload it.

Cheers,

[Fabs Forns]

I like the light and composition very much, but the shallow depth of field takes away IMO.
Thanks for sharing it, looking forward to more.