Roseate Spoonbill

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this back in October and recently worked on it again. I was photographing a stationary bird in the tree and caught a glimpse of the spoonbill landing. I only had time to find it in the viewfinder and get off a short burst.

Nikon D7000, Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VRII AF shot at 300mm, 1/500, f/8, ISO250

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Very nice, Joe. Peak action and a well designed, clean image. Love the translucent feathers. Motion blur on the wing tips makes this image super dynamic.

[Grace Scalzo]

Hiya, Joe. I'm with Sid, with the sharp feet and face, combined with the motion blur in the wings, you've conveyed the sense of motion well. That cut off piece of the perch on the left side of the frame as viewed keeps dragging my eyes over there and I think by cropping in tighter, the empahsis would fall more easily on the bird. I'd also try to lighten the eye a bit. A very pleasing image.

[dankearl]

Another vote for a tighter crop, but this has a very nice ethereal feel to it.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thank you all for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated. Here is a tighter crop as suggested. I can go either way but wonder about IQ with the tighter crop.

[Dvir Barkay]

Very nice, the pose is great and the blur is fantastic. The colors are great as well. Tighter crop is a bit better for me.

[Rob Monsipapa]

Have to agree, the tighter crop made the difference for me also. Tack sharp bill, face, like the motion blur of the wings and the color in the wings, sure helps the otherwise blank background.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thank you Dvir and Rob for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.

[Grace Scalzo]

I like your repost. The IQ looks fine to me, at least for this size of presentation.