Had a good morning

[Mike Tracy]

A half hour or so before coming across this snail kite I caught a trophy size bass ( released her). My wife and I decided the winds were getting stiff for fishing so we were heading back to our slip we we saw her feasting on a snail. I was able to get some pretty good portrait type images but I liked this one as she was balancing on her perch.

MKIII, EF500, 1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 400, handheld on rocking boat

Constructive criticism always welcomed

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find and moment captured. Details look good, too. It would have been even better with the sun behind you. There is some artifact underneath the bird's right wing and it is a bit tight in the frame for my taste.

[Julie Kenward]

Nice composition, Mike. I like the placement of the bird in the frame. The BG is a bit streaky but not horribly distracting. I think the bit of green towards the bottom pulls my eye away a bit - might think about toning that down - dropping the saturation of that area a bit.

Since the head is down it's not an ideal head angle but I think if you added a small catchlight it might give a little more oomph to the image. Your call - I know some people are against that kind of thing.

[Fabs Forns]

Good behavior captured, a little tight as mentioned. Sun angle is so important, but the birds still don't understand that :)

[Mike Tracy]

Thanks for the feedback.

It was the only angle available due to thick aquatic vegetation and my wife isn't too good at setting an anchor.