Bathing Black-Necked Stilt

Canon 1D Mark IV
500mm +1.4TC
Skimmer pod

ISO 640
f/5.6
1/8000 sec

Took this in Florida a couple months ago, in Fort Myers. Was out late one afternoon photographing with some friends including Marina Scarr and Bob Blanchard. I got some classic stilt shots but also liked this one as something different. Just now really starting to go through all my stilt images.
I was lying flat in a very mucky area using my skimmer pod.
Crop, whites recovery, sharpening, and NR.
Thanks so much in advance for all comments/critiques.

You are on a roll, Melissa, cool water and very sharp.
A bit of a head turn would be a bit nicer, but a nice action photo.
A bit noisy on and around the wings for iso640, a large crop?

Thanks Dan. Yes to the pretty big crop question. I would say it's about a 40-50% crop. I did NR only on the BG only, forgot to do the wings. Here's a repost with some NR on the bird as well. Does that look better?

Melissa:

Despite the noise, I prefer the crispness of the original.

Excellent pose, exposure, colors. I would consider a minor crop from the top.

I would have considered trading shutter speed for lower ISO. Rare to need 1/8000s, even when flying! I assume you are shooting manual exposure? :S3:

Cheers

Randy

The repost looks very nice, usually NR applied to the bird results in a poor image for me.
You did a great rescue job, I don't see any loss of detail and a more attractive image for me.

Dan:

I pushed a lot of TriX to ASA 1600, so for me, the grain in the original is acceptable to maintain the sharpness. :bg3:

Cheers

Randy

Melissa - nice light and sharpness. The slight amount of noise in the OP doesn't bother me at this web size. I agree with the suggestion of a slight crop from the top.

TFS,
Rachel

Hi Melissa, Excellent light, exposure and sharpness considering the large crop. HA is fine for me as it is parallel for the sensor and stilt is in action. I might consider cropping slightly from top to get the bird little higher in the frame, but I am sure you don't want to crop it any further :S3:

Looking forward to see more of your stilt images.

- Maya

nice image,sharp and good detail,like the BG and the water coming off the wings.thanks.

Great shot, I like the action and I find it difficult to chose between the two versions.

Lovely freeze of action here. Love the clay color BG too. Great capture Melissa

Love the behavior and action you captured here, Melissa. The second version definitely works best for me. I love the flying droplets of water. You did a good job recovering your whites, as I see a lot of details there. Your comp works well for me. I sure am sorry that I missed this one. Must have been off brooding after my 2x TC got soaked. :)

Haha, I think that's exactly where you were, Marina!
Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions and nice comments.

excellent image Melissa, love the dynamic,ic pose!

Yep, repost for me. I'm OK with the HA too. One thing I'd do is eliminate the extra catchlights in the pupil and I think I could go for less canvas above. All in all a wonderful image!

Wonderful shot. Teriffic pose, very nice soft light, and great background.
Well done.