Little Blue

[susanschermer]

Captured this little guy during a weekend at the S A Alligator Farm. Used fill flash and added the palm leaves in the upper L corner for balance. I find it hard to make beautiful images out of this bird. This one was in nice breeding color.
Mark III, 70-200 f/2.8 with 1/4TC, f5.6, 1/1250, Canon 580 EX at -1 1/3

[Randy Stout]

Susan:

Very interesting pose, with good head angle for a preening pose.
To my eye, the birds head and eye aren't sharp. It looks like the plane of focus was just anterior to the head.
The light is a bit of a challenge because the birds head is in the shadow of his wing. I think you can bring up that area a little without it looking unnatural.

The reeds make an interesting compositional element. I might tone down the larger, darker clump in the RLC, and darken the stump behind the birds perch.

Thanks for sharing!

Randy

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose, eye contact and grass in the BG. Too bad the focus was not on the eye.