Snake bird

I wanted to create a different image so photographed this one through vegetation. Keoladeo Ghana National Park, Bharatpur, India.

Canon EOS 50D, Canon EF 400mm f2.8 L IS USM, EF 2xII, ISO 400, f9, 1/160, EV +1/3 full frame.

Interesting crop, but I'd probably give it more space at left for the bill. I'd lighten the eye a bit. The unobstructed part of the bird seems to have a bluiesh cast?

I like the pose and eye contact, the crop is a bit tight for my taste. I agree on the color cast and would have preferred an image without the OOF green in the foreground.

Interesting pose and good focus. I really like the head and beak detail but do find the green distracting. Agree with the above suggestions re more room.

I agree with the above suggestions regarding the composition. I would try to warm up the color a bit and regarding the OOF stuff I have to say that I like your idea but I thint that the effect is very subtle and does not work in this case. If the OOF green area were more prominent the result would be better IMO. I reworked your image, adding more canvas at the left, warming up the colors, another round of USM to the bird and icreasing the saturation in the OOF areas and I thik that the result works. I would love to hear what do you think about it :-)

Dany, Axel, Tony and Juan,
Thanks for your comments and efforts.

The background was a wetland. It is a Ramsar site. It was also foggy in the morning. That is why the colour cast. I photographed it with AWB and didnt change it. I agree about the tight crop. The repost with more green oof areas looks better. Thanks a ton. I hope in 2009, my bird photography will improve. :-)

Cheers,
Sabyasachi