Landing Spoonbill

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

I would very much like your opinions on this image taken in near Lake Martin in central Louisiana. I am quite pleased with it, but I know the egle eyes will find ways to improve it. Thanks ahead of time.
Nikon D300
2009:05:11 16:12:39
850mm
1275mm (in 35mm film)
1/800 sec, f/8
Mode: Manual
Metering: Spot
ISO: 400
AF mode: AF-C
White balance: AUTO
Flash: Off
File size: 13.8MB
Image size: 4352 x 2868
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The landing pose, angle and soft light look good. Too bad about the clipped wing and I would sharpen the bird more. There seem to be some cloning artifacts above the head.

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Thanks for your thoughts and I agree with you on the loss of the wing tip, but there seems to be noithing one can do about that at times. I thought the image was good enough to keep even though I lost the wing tip.

[Scott Frye]

Good color and good detail in the face. Is it a keeper? That's up to you. If it were mine, I would keep it

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Here is the repost. I removed the artifacts above the head and sharpened the bird a bit more. Is this an impovement?

[Ed Cordes]

Wheeler, this is a nice image and the repost is better. If it is within your ethics, adding canvas and wing tip is straight forward. Robert O'Toole has a great CD of PS techniques that will walk you through the process.

Here is the link:

Robert O'Toole's Advanced Photoshop Tips and Techniques

[Dave Phillips]

repost is excellent...the additional sharpening brought the sb to life.
How is bird population at Lake Martin now....I may need to run down there?

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Dave - Thanks for the comments. To answer your question on LAke Martin, don't bother! It is such a shame what happened there. I was there 4 years ago and it was wonderfull. There were a few birds there last week, but they were away from the road and very hard to see. I was with Charlie Bush and he told me that the population was improving, but felt it would be several more years before it would be colse to what it had been. What a shame.

[Dave Phillips]

Dave - Thanks for the comments. To answer your question on LAke Martin, don't bother! It is such a shame what happened there. I was there 4 years ago and it was wonderfull. There were a few birds there last week, but they were away from the road and very hard to see. I was with Charlie Bush and he told me that the population was improving, but felt it would be several more years before it would be colse to what it had been. What a shame.

Thanks for info....I understand that Brazos Bend and a few places south and east of Houston are doing pretty good.
I am in NW Louisiana and birds are so scarce this spring that I just don't get it.

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Here is the repost with a little canvas added and a wing tip. I am not exactly sure how this should look, but this is my best effort after several tries. Sorry for the cloning problems behind the wing but I was tired and have tried the new tip at least seven different times. As I finished I just didn't see the screw up. What do you think?