Reddish Egret Running With Caught Fish

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image in September along the north beach at Ft. De Soto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED image captured at 400mm
1/2000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV +2/3 ISO 500 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC 2018
Cropped for composition and presentation

[John Mack]

The fish and running on the water is great. The processing looks off to me.

[gail bisson]

Hi Joe,
I agree with John that something very wonky has occurred in your processing of this image.
You have a great action pose here so I look forward to your repost!
Gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

John and Gail, thank you for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated. Here is another go at processing the image.

[gail bisson]

Hi Joe,
It still looks very weird. Very contrasty and a lot of noise on the wings. can you post an unprocessed image?
Gail

[Glenn Pure]

Joe, I love the action you've captured in this one and think the repost is a considerable improvement. I can't see the noise Gail refers to. It is quite contrasty though and wonder what the lighting was like at the time? Worth another go, I think.

[Arthur Morris]

To me, the weirdness lies in the fact that the middle tones look much too dark ...

with love, artie

ps: great pose, great fish ...