Surf Bird

[Michael Stern]

Greetings
Found this Reddish Egret rascal :) on the west coast of Florida this past weekend putting on a show. Dancing and Dinning! Hope you like it and ALL suggestions / comments MOST welcomed!
Best
Michael

Details

Canon 40D
Shutter speed: 1/5000 sec
Aperture: 5
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous (high): frame 1
ISO: 400
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Focal length: 500mm

[Randy Stout]

Michael:

As you can tell from my avatar, I like Reds.

Nice pose, head angle, and composition, although I might add a bit canvas to the left.

The difficult issue here is the light angle and quality. The light is coming from well off to your right, so that large parts of the bird or in shadow. The light also appears harsh.
The transillumination of the wings from the light is nice, but the light would have had to been very soft to prevent the harsh shadows with this light angle.

You might be able to soften the shadows with shadow recovery, and do a reverse S curve to help reduce overall contrast, but it is a tough one to save.

Thanks for posting. Keep shooting! Hope for clouds, haze, rain!

Randy

[Randy Stout]

Michael:

I had a minute, so tried a few of my recommendations. Just an option for you to consider.

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Michael, I like the posture with the wingspread, and your low angle works well. Randy has done a great job with the shadows.

[Kobus Tollig]

I like the pose and the comp. You did well. Image looks a bit skew