Welcome to BPN, Paul! Very nice first post. Cute little guy and I like the walking pose. A lower angle would have made it even stronger. Keep them coming!
Sharp image of a nice fresh juvenal. I like the raised foot. Yes to getting down in the seaweed. The remaining problems are caused by the improper light angle. With the light from the left the bird's face and especially the eye are in shadow. Same for the left flank and the side of the tail that we can see.
You could have moved well to your left and gotten down in the seaweed 15 feet to 20 ahead of the bird with your shadow pointed at it. If the bird turns, you have your image. If he keeps coming, switch to vertical.
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Welcome to BPN, Paul!
Good job on getting close to this guy and filling the frame. I also like the dynamic pose here. Even though the bird is in movement, he is sharp with nice feather detail. Your exposure looks dead on from my monitor.
As mentioned above, a lower shooting angle would have improved your composition. A general rule of thumb is to try to shoot from the bird's eye level. If you look at the eye, you will notice that it is in the shade. When you are working in sidelight, it often helps to use fill flash to open up the shadows. If you look at bird images that truly inspire you, you will notice that they will almost all have a strong eye contact between the viewer and the bird, drawing the viewer into the image.
I am looking forward to seeing more of your images here in the future.
Very good tip about the eye level. The area I shot area is actually roped off in the park and no one is allowed to step over this due to the shorebirds limited feeding area.
Good to see you on BPN Paul,
Great advice already given. If this is a crop, I might consider leaving a little more room on the left, and a little less on the right.
Never been to Presquille - I know its a good shorebird spot, but is it good from a photography perspective?