Hi Corey:
A big welcome to BPN! You will find it a great place to learn and grow as a nature photographer.
I like the pose with the tilt, raised foot, slightly open bill, clean water in general. Sharp and well exposed.
From a compositional standpoint, I might be tempted to crop a bit from the top and a sliver form the right.
When possible, a lower shooting angle gives a more intimate feel to the image.
Please be sure to include all your tech. info, such as camera/lens and post processing. That really helps us with the critique.
Look forward to more.
Cheers
Randy
Thanks, can you edit a post after you post it?
Nice smooth background and water and nice pose. Composition looks god. Welcome to BPN Corey. Based on the species, I assume you are posting from North America.
Corey:
There is a very short window to edit the original post, then it isn't possible. What you can do is just add a response to your own thread, and add the camera/lens/post data, and if you modify the original image, you can add it to the thread as well, just can't change the original post. We had problems with people changing the image after many comments had been made, and those comments made no sense once that original image had been changed. So now, you can always see how it started out, and the author can post any changes they want to make later in the thread.
Cheers
Randy
Hey Corey, welcome to BPN!! Well exposed, sharp, and like Randy I like the tilting pose. Neat that we can see a bit of food morsel between the mandibles. Compositionally the image could use some cropping as suggested, or, if the water was nice below the frame as well than pointing your lens down for more, or all, of the reflection would have been nice. This would also have nicely placed the subject higher in the frame. Looking forward to more, and please feel free to critiques others' works too...all part of the fun.
Karl I am from London Ontario and have been driving around all year mostly from Muskoka to around southwestern Ontario.
Thanks so far guys for the help, its a lot more feed back then I have gotten on flickr.
Canon 7D
500mm F4 + 1.4
Shot at F5.6 at 1/1000
In post I bumped the colors up a bit, fixed up the water as this was taken in a lagoon so the water had a lot of floaters, then I brightened up the center a bit.
I agree with reflection I wish I could of got it on in frame but the bird was to close, I should of removed the TC but I didn't have any where to put it.