Canon 40D & 500 f4.5, ISO 400, f5.6 @ 1/2000, 1/3 EV, On a bean bag out the window of my truck.
A yellow crowned night heron captured this last Sunday. Granted... This is not the most compelling image BUT... After reading "Sun angle", "Head Angle", "Busy BG" and "Critical Focus" here so often, I think it's starting to sink in as I feel all of those attributes come together in this image reasonably well. It's not the early morning sweet light... In fact it's kinda harsh... But at least it was coming from the right direction! The bill is kinda nasty too, but he'd just finished brunch on the lake and hadn't had a chance to make himself presentable yet. At the angle I was at relative to the bird it was all I could do to get the 500 out the window and me behind the view finder!
You are right Steve the light is a little harsh but you handled it well with good exposure and detail in the feathers. Nice eye contact too but again you are right about the beak but hey he did not know it was picture day < smile > Nice work Steve.