Double-crested Cormorant

[Joseph Przybyla]

Out to Circle B Bar Reserve this morning. Typical for this time of year, not many birds. I did find this Cormorant that was fishing and surprised me by taking flight. This is the first image from the series that I worked up. 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/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 800 Auto 1 WB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC 2018
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp as can be. A wider zoom would have given you more of the splash behind the bird ... Still damned good.

with love, artie

[John Mack]

Great pose on the bird and nice and sharp where it should be. The splashing water is nice as well as those blurred wings.

[annmpacheco]

Hi Joe, nice take off Joe and I like the HA. Blurred wings and that splash makes the image for me! TFS I would suggest cloning the dark spots above and to the right of the bird. some of them are more prominent and that catches my eye. Also the bird's top left wing has some artifact...

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.

Here is an edit reflecting Artie's and Ann's suggestions for improving the image. I have a tendency to crop tighter rather than looking at the whole image for composition, something I need to work on. Thanks again all.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.

Here is an edit reflecting Artie's and Ann's suggestions for improving the image. I have a tendency to crop tighter rather than looking at the whole image for composition, something I need to work on. Thanks again all.

Thanks Joe and YAW. For me, this one is lightyears better with more room and the whole splash. You are in a large club that I call the "Man-croppers." Not a good club to be in.

with love, artie