Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hand held image captured on the Isle of Mull

OM-1 300mm f4 & MC14 (840mm eqiuiv)
ISO 2000 - 0.3, 1/2500sec, f6.3

ACR/PSCC

[Dorian Anderson]

Interesting setting with excellent action. I'd usually want the head to be clear of the (far) wing, but the beak really pops against the white underwing. Exposure looks good; there's plenty of detail across the subject. Nice eye contact as well. I would have tried to get a bit lower to make the foreground rocks and bird stand out a bit more, but that's me and I don't know if the situation allowed it. A nice frame regardless.

[Paul Burdett]

This one works for me Jonathan. No nits here apart from maybe having the legs more in focus?

[Kurt Bowman]

Very nice take-off image! I like the wing position and angle of the bird a lot! Small nit is I wish you had a bit more room to the right and less to the left.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... nice one !!
I do like the head peaking out from the wings ....
Processing looks good and glad you managed to create details in HL and SH , good work .
Only nit for me is composition ... the bird needs more space to fly into , IMHO .

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks everyone, yes I share your reservations over composition but this bird was walking and studently flew so I followed it as best I could.

[Brian Sump]

Jon, a nice handheld catch you made here.

I like how the moss in the FG disappears going up. I'm good with the pose here, the wing angles and beak actually create a cool effect.

Do have to agree with Andreas here though, too much left and not enough right for my personal tastes. Lots of other good stuff though.