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Down the Hatch
One of those fortuitous days when after being bored and shooting anything that might look interesting, I review my imports and get the reaction, "Wow! Did I shoot that?"
Canon 7D; 500mm F/4L IS USM
F/6.3, 1/2000, ISO 400
LR5: Cropping, tone adjustments, Some sharpening & Noise Reduction,
selectively burned the bill, dodged the dark topside of the fish.
Looking for suggestions that might improve the presentation. e.g. maybe clone out some of the highlights on the Catfish? Full frame has most of the Cormorant & lots of room left.
...Jerry
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This is wonderful!! What a catch (for both of you). Looks like the IQ held up very well to the crop. If you included more of the cormorant, the prominence of the fish would be diminished. The right edge looks like the optimal place to crop, as the water is sort of blurring out detail in the bird, so nothing appears chopped in two. A tiny bit more room on the bottom might be worth looking at.
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Wildlife Moderator
Hi Jerry, as the action is all in the top 2/3rds I would look to an alternative crop and emphasis more of the action, say a pano 800 x 400. Just crop from the top LHC down to the full width you have, looks better and grabs the viewers attention even more. You want to avoid too big a crop to ensure IQ and pixel bashing. Difficult in bright light & water locations, but you need to look at avoiding bright/blown highlights, albeit small areas. Detail looks good, but expanding mid tone helps, especially as it bring more depth & clarity to the water.
The one that, didn't get away! Right time, right location, well done. 
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
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BPN Member
WOWSA! Nothing like capturing a catfish "catapaulting" itself into a Cormorant's bill! I REALLY like the comp "as is". As an ETL person, I would love to just see what a much looser crop would do. Highlights on fish could be toned down a bit ... I would take out the white specks in the middle/left... I'm sure they are water droplets, but are quite bright and the image wouldn't suffer from losing them. Love your "WOW, Did I shoot that?" comment. Most excellent!
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BPN Member
The repost is over the top.
You should put this in Avian where more will view it.
Outstanding.
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BPN Member
What dankearl said! Great re-post!
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That is outstanding Jerry! I might give a bit more room at the bottom if you have it so the bird's body does not exit from the corner of the image. Also I would punch up the mid-tone contrast a little and maybe a bit of saturation too.
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I don't have any comments to add, Jerry...just want to concur that this is a fabulous shot!!
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My kind of shot, and I have had that reaction....wow how did I do that..... You didn't, nature did, you were just privy to the moment, like winning the lottery.
I'm new to PP so I think the above is right, could use some midtones and highlight work. I think if you darkened the highlights a bit or brought up midtones, you would get more detail, enough to see the droplets on the Cormorants head and more feather detail.
