Osprey Landing

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image at Circle B Bar Reserve. Polk County, Florida. It is one of a series of this Osprey landing. Originally I had the background slightly darker. Today in re-working the image I blew out the background and then worked on the exposure of the bird and tree branch. Does this work? Is the background too light? How is the exposure of the bird?

Nikon D7000
Nikon 70-300mm 4-5.6 VRII AF shot at 300mm
1/1600
f5.6
ISO 360

[John Rowell]

You've done a good job with the whites on the Osprey except along the top of his head and along the leading edge of the right wing. I like the detail through the rest of the bird. You've done a good job considering the difficult background you were given for this shot. I'd try to rescue shading in the background to avoid the flat "pasted on" look.

[Ashleigh Scully]

Great job getting an Osprey with prey in its talons and getting ready to land! I photographed Ospreys last March in Florida and the sky looked like this. They look so much better on a blue sky day I think. Maybe try not having the sky so bright.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks John and Ashleigh for your comments and suggestions. It is nice to have another set of eyes to see what I did not. Sometimes when one works on an image for a long time blindness seems to set in. Here is a repost based on your suggestions.