On one stilt

[Kerry Perkins]

This little Black-necked Stilt is standing on one leg and you can barely see the other foot peeking out from the feathers. Captured in early evening light.

1D4, EF400mm f/5.6L
Manual mode, f/7.1@1/1600 ISO 400 WB 5100K
AI Servo autofocus, hand-held no flash

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Excellent exposure, and you even got the red eye! Shows how important lighting is. Several things I noticed that would have made the image better, and this is strickly my opinion. The stilt needs to occupy more space (it is too small in the frame), I think it should be somewhat to the left and not so centerred, and the shootting angle adjusted at time of capture (if this was possible) so that the size of the reflection was roughly the same size as the subject. This would mean getting lower in this case. regards~Bill

[Ian Cassell]

This is one of my favorite birds, Kerry, and they always beg to have their reflection included! The shooting angle doesn't bother me, but I see what Bill is saying and I agree that might have stepped things up a notch.

[Kerry Perkins]

Thanks for your comments guys, I appreciate them. I can't say that I agree with the suggestions, but here is another version with the bird larger in the frame and moved to the left. I don't really like it now, as the frame seems tight to me and the image unbalanced. There isn't much in between the original and this one, so I'm not sure what you had in mind. Centering is much less of a concern with verticals as there just isn't that much room for negative space, and this is a relatively small bird so I think it should look somewhat small in the frame. I also don't really want total symmetry between the bird and its reflection and getting that would require me to be in the water with the lens just above it which was not an option here. As Bill said, this is all subjective... Feel free to do your own crop and post it. I would love to see some discussion and hear other opinions.

P.S. - I'm not a big fan of complete reflections of a tall skinny bird like this but I posted this for all those who always say "I wish you had included the reflection".

[Andrew Merwin]

On reflection, I agree with you Kerry. I prefer the OP. I also think the RP is too tight in the frame. This is a lovely image with a great BG.

[Ian Cassell]

I think I prefer the OP as well.

[Kerry Perkins]

This is the dilemma I see with tall birds in the water. If you get a nice reflection it is so tempting to include it, but I think it ends up being too much for the frame and is hard to compose well. Full reflections work really well with ducks and grebes and the like.

[Cathy McEntee]

Love the contrast of black, white and red and the reflections is gorgeous!