I would have liked a little more head turn but when the bird turned it's head the eye and dark band were in shadow. Golden mean crop from the center of the image. Very little post processing. It's nice when the background us clean,
Hi Michael,
Nice find!
I find the bird underexposed. When shooting into the sky I usually go to +EV of 1 1/3 to 1 2/3. Sometimes even more for birds with blacks in them.
The angle is a bit steep as well. You have a very nice BG with the transition from blue to grey.
Gail
Thanks Gail. I could've bumped the mid-tones up in post but I elected not to (mostly because I like the sky and didn't feel like doing any masking). Considering that these birds don't sit still for anything or anyone I was glad to be as close as I was. Thanks for commenting.