Yellow-crowned Night Heron

[Bill Dix]

I found this one in the files from last June, taken at the Ocean City Rookery. Thought it fit the theme.

D500, Sigma 150-600C @ 290mm; ISO 800, 1/2500s @ f/7.1 manual. (Processed this at 1200 px back before the change.)

[Isaac Grant]

Not my kind of shot so not sure I can add a ton as a critique. Very calm scene with beautiful colors. Maybe move the bird to the right some. Seems a bit centered to me.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Bill honestly this isn't working for me

[gail bisson]

Hi Bill,
I am afraid that I do not really like this one.
Sorry.
Placement is off- bird is too centered and the color combo of black and blue is not appealing to me,
Gail
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

I don't mind it, and I like the drop rising from the water splash. I must admit I am thrown off by such a solid silhouette with a blue setting - did you need to darken it?

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for your honest appraisal. I knew there was a reason why I never posted this at the time. Daniel, I purposely exposed this as a silhouette, but there was a bit of detail coming through on the bird, so I did use the Levels slider to make it fully black.

For what it's worth here's a tighter crop of the same image which addresses the position of the bird in the frame, but you won't like this one any better. Also for what it's worth, I rather liked the black on blue.