Killdeer in Flight

[Raymond Lee]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post in this forum. I've been looking through everyone's great work from time to time. I hope to post some of my favourites and get some feedback. Thanks!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6072/6104205099_66f6deaabf_z.jpg

Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, AB, Canada. August 28, 2011
Canon EOS 7D | EF 400mm f/5.6L | 1/2000 sec., f/7.1, ISO 640 @ 400mm, handheld

Cheers,
Raymond Lee

[Randy Stout]

Ray:

A big welcome to BPN. A great place to learn and grow as a nature photographer!

Nice dorsal view with good angle in frame, and of head towards us.

Sharp, well exposed. Good eye contact. Glad the bird is basically free of merge with the far shoreline.

From a compositional standpoint, it is good. I would be inclined to add a bit more canvas on the left for more room to fly into.

Look forward to more.

Please be sure to critique other peoples images as it will help you learn a lot as well.

Cheers

Randy

PS: The reason your first post wasn't responded to is that the 1st one has to be moderated ( approved by one of the avian moderators) inorder for it to show up to other folks. That shouldn't happen now that you have been approved.

[dankearl]

Nice work, not easy to get Killdeer in flight.

[Arthur Morris]

Good stuff above and a great way to start. Lots to say. First off, welcome and thanks a stack for your membership support. Second, you can post verticals at 800 tall and <200kbs. This one deserves to be bigger.

Love the dorsal view and banking pose; tell us about the situation. For me, the bird is much too high in the frame. I would crop from the bottom and add canvas above.

I look forward to seeing lots more of your images.

[Tom Rambaut]

You should have posted sooner as this is a nice first image - better than my first one. Posted larger would help. Nice eye contact. TFS

[Sid Garige]

Killer wing position and great eye contact.

[Raymond Lee]

Randy: Thanks! I thought I added enough on the left, but I guess not.

Artie: Good suggestion! This Killdeer was circling around me, so I had some great flight opportunities especially that morning lighting. As for the photo size, I was not within access to my external HDD, so I couldn't post a larger version. The photo was linked off from my Flickr site.

Thanks Dan,Tom, and Sid!

[arash_hazeghi]

The pose and light are excellent, I agree this must be posted at least 800 pixels tall to show the details.

welcome to BPN

[Melissa Groo]

Welcome Raymond. You'll find your skills will grow enormously through posting here (and commenting on others). Fantastic first post. Wish to see bigger too and second Artie on the crop suggestion.

[Raymond Lee]

Re-worked the photo as per above advices. Basically I re-cropped it again. This time for sure it will be at 800px long.

101087

Hope this is better. Thanks for the feedback.

Raymond

[Ofer Levy]

Hi Raymond! This is an excellent image! Great light and colours. Sharp with very good exposure control, shooting angle, eye contact and BG. I don't think it needs more room to the left as the bird is actually looking at you and the head is tilted toward the right of the frame. I don't feel that in your OP the bird is too high in the frame at all. Actually composition in this repost is almost identical to your OP.
Here is a quick repost with my idea as to the composition. Also removed the second catchlight, applied a tiny bit of boost to colours and selective sharpening on the bird.