Bill, I love the positioning of the godwit in the frame, the great wing position, and the backlighting on the left wing. The colors are very nice. I'd prefer to see the feather detail on the head a little sharper.
Bill, getting one of these guys in flight is not an easy task. The wing position allows us to see some great detail on both sides of the wing - a real treat!
I agree Mike about getting a bit more sharpening on the head. Here's a quick shot at it in PS.
Good flight shot with the preferred wings down pose! I like the visible trailing feet.
I think the head area needs more sharpening.
Gail
PS. Just saw Miguel's repost and the previous comments on sharpening. Sorry for the repetitive critique.
I'm surprised you got a flying shorebird image so sharp at this SS...but even them there is an ever so tiny amount of motion blur on the face. Nice wings down pose and I love the low to the water flight path. Comp a bit squarish, perhaps a bit less below would work. Still a really cool image!
Really appreciate the comments, and thanks for the repost Miquel. I agree it needed selective sharpening. I would have had the advantage of the full sized RAW, and most likely tried ColorEfex Pro 4's detail extractor, using the brush option.
Daniel; indeed the 1/1250 sec was a bit slow. I was taking photos of feeding godwits, and the flying bird suddenly appeared and I had no time to crank up to 1/1600 or even better 1/2000, and upping the ISO (which would have been necessary). Better luck next time. Comp a bit squarish? It is 1200 x 781 pixels.
regards~Bill