Al's picture prompted me to post mine. I was playing around with a reflection because I could not get a clear shot of the real thing. It was behind too many branches. I'll post the shot which shows the whole scene also. This was taken with my Sony A100, 50-500 mm Sigma lens. Data=f/5.6, 1/30, +2.0 ev, ISO 400, 140mm.
Hi John - thats the idea - all the other guidelines still apply though. Looks like you might have some hot spots there - with a reflection only like this - I would be generally looking at 1/2-1 stop under what the exposure would be for that scene - reflection is generally brighter.
Looking forward to seeing more.
Good idea If you could have gotten to the bird directly the contrast would have been worse. One interesting thing about the reflections is that as Lance pointed out all guidelines apply !!! You need the sun to your back, head angle etc
Here you would also need even light on the bird !! Do like your are looking at different possibilities ... only way to to ! Big Congrats !!!