Wood Storks

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image of a Wood Stork family at Merritt Island NWR, Merritt Island, Florida in 2012. I keep going back to it as my knowledge and post processing skills improve. I recently started from the beginning again with this result. The image is about 75% of full frame. I cleaned up the top of reflections of Mangroves that were distracting. Your thoughts and critique would be appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 55-300mm VR AF F/4.5-5.6 shot at 300mm (450mm FFE)
1/400 F/8 ISO 320

[John Robinson]

Love the symetry of this and I don't normally go for reflections but broken up like this I can live with !!
Nice monochrome maybe ?? Wall hanger I reckon
Great shot whatever
JOhn

[Tim King]

I like it. Very nice exposure. Fine job.

[Cal Walters]

Love the hunting pose (I assume). Nice work with all the whites.

[Rob Melone]

Awesome composition and capture Joseph!

[gail bisson]

This is very different. Techs look good.
I like the 3 subjects and the way they are placed within the group.
I just wish they were all heading towards the viewer instead of away from us.
I feel like it needs some CW rotation.
Do you have the full reflection of the middle stork? I would include it if you have it.
Gail

[Troy Lim]

This is very different. Techs look good.
I like the 3 subjects and the way they are placed within the group.
I just wish they were all heading towards the viewer instead of away from us.
I feel like it needs some CW rotation.
Do you have the full reflection of the middle stork? I would include it if you have it.
Gail

I believe Gail was trying to say CCW rotation.

[Diane Miller]

Agree on the rotation -- CCW clearly meant! I'm torn between wanting more reflection or less. Might go for slightly lower contrast with more detail int he darks.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thank you all for viewing, commenting and offering suggestions to improve the image. I have worked on the image using your suggestions as a guide. I expanded the crop to include the full reflection. I added canvas to the sides so that I could crop to a 16x9. Here is the re-edited image.

[Diane Miller]

Much more pleasing to me! It is a little surprising how much less dominating the reflection of the larger bird is this way. Still feels like a little more rotation is needed.