A few stray Feathers

[gail bisson]

This puffin had been preening and left a few feathers "untucked".
Taken in Iceland, July 2017.
I have told many people that if you plan a trip to Iceland give yourself an extra day at each location because the weather can be awful. This plan paid off well because we had 2 days of miserable foggy and rainy weather but day #3 was sunny.
Canon 1 DX and 1.4 x
ISO 800 SS 1/800 F 8.0
Crop to ~ 70% FF. Nothing added and cloned a sliver of rock on LHS of frame. Dodged the darker area in RUC.
I would have like a bit more space on the left but I could not move to my right as I would have fallen about 300 meters into the sea!
Usual LR sliders and NR to BG, levels and Nik DE and Tonal contrast at 10% to parts of puffin.I did not sharpen the jpeg as I usually do because it made the JPEG crunchy( i find this often happens with black and white birds).
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Great look-back pose, gorgeous background. A tad more on the left would have been ideal, but I understand how you can live with it like this.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Wow... think this is one of your best. Spot on techs, nice image design, wonderful background. Thank you for sharing.

[Arthur Morris]

I would have like a bit more space on the left but I could not move to my right as I would have fallen about 300 meters into the sea!
Gail

Lovely light and background. With regards to the above, why not simply choose an AF point more to the right or use rear button and re-compose?

with love, artie

[Alex Becker]

Awesome multi colored BG, like the perch, and details and pose all look very nice. The hint of light in the Puffins eye tops it off for me. Agree with a bit more to the left but also appreciate the reasons you couldn't! TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ooh, super all around. I like the comp as is, but like Artie I wonder why you could not have pointed your lens more to the left rather than physically moving...was it because of what appears to be some foreground vegetation creeping in that you wanted to avoid? In any case this is about as good as it gets!

[John Mack]

Very nice like the look back pose with that nice background.

[Juan Tolentino]

Absolutely gorgeous, I love everything on this image, BG and pose are great. Very sharp, you should be really happy with this picture, cannot really ask for anything better. Just Excellent!

[gail bisson]

Thanks all for the comments.
Daniel- you are correct re: FG stuff on LHS needing to be cropped out. There was also a protruding rock on the LHS .
Here is the original to show LHS
Gail