Atlantic Puffin in last light

[Scott Grant]

Taken at Elliston, Newfoundland, Canada.
D300
70-200VR @ 200mm
f5
1/400th
ISO500

to finish the image i adjusted levels in NX2, cropped for composition, and resized/sharpened for the web.

the spotted light on the face are the last rays of sunlight filtering through the vegetation in front of the bird.

thanks for looking! :)

[DeanNewman]

Scott, Sweet! Great HA and BG. Very sharp. The light plays well on the bird's face. I'm bothered by the heighth of the OOF vegetation, especially the redddish-brown one right of center and green one image center.

[Bill Foxworthy]

These birds are superb subjects nicely captured with the last rays. The vegetation is competing with the bird though. I still need one of these in my arsenal.

[Ted Scalzo]

Nicely done. The OF vegitation has been noted. I wonder what this would look like cropped as more of a head portrait?

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I do agree with Dean's assessment, less OOF vegetation would have been avoided if you raised the camera a touch and shot down a bit more. You probably would still have maintained that pretty blue BG. :) Thanks for sharing.

[Art Kornienko]

I find the oof vegetation a bit distracting to an otherwise nice portrait.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely image , agreed with suggations given above
TFS

[Scott Grant]

i also questioned the OOF vegetation, but honestly was more concerned with cropping off the tail. having not even been mentioned, i guess i have gotten an answer concerning the crop!

thanks all! much appreciated as always!

[Ken Watkins]

I find the oof vegetation a bit distracting to an otherwise nice portrait.

This bothers me as well, but then I would just like to see a Puffin!