American avocet

[Ben Egbert]

This was taken last April at Bear River NWR in Utah.

50D, 500f4+1.4X at f5.6 ISO 200, 1/2000 sec, from my vehicle and a bean bag. It has been a popular image on my SmugMug gallery. Hope you like it. C&C welcome. I am working my way through the Art of bird photography II. Have not gotten clear yet on composition, so any help here is welcome.

[Mital Patel]

sure a power pack image this is. very well captured

[Stu Bowie]

Ben, good exposure on the avocet, and I like the vivid colours in this. ( the water could be a tad oversaturated) Comp wise, I would move him back to the left a bit, and its always good to wait for him to turn slightly towards you before pressing the shutter. He is already a tad past you. Lastly, looking at the water around the legs, this needs a slight CCW rotation. Hope that helps.

[Ben Egbert]

Ben, good exposure on the avocet, and I like the vivid colours in this. ( the water could be a tad oversaturated) Comp wise, I would move him back to the left a bit, and its always good to wait for him to turn slightly towards you before pressing the shutter. He is already a tad past you. Lastly, looking at the water around the legs, this needs a slight CCW rotation. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the comments. I have lots of canvas to work with, but I am confused with your comment to move the bird left. I suspect I have too much room at the right and not enough at the left, is this what you mean, crop some right and add some left?

[Stu Bowie]

Apologies Ben, I meant move him to the right, so as to have space on the left. My fingers were faster than my brain. If you have space, take a little off the right, and add to the left. Hope that makes sense now. Its been a long day here.

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks for correction. Here is a repost, rotated, moved and blues desaturated. Without going back to the RAW, I did not have much room at the bottom, so after rotating, it is slightly tighter there.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Wonderful shot Ben. Love the repost and it only needs a little more room below for the virtual feet and a slightly better HA. :) Thanks for sharing.

[Danny J Brown]

This is a gorgeous bird, Ben. Thanks for introducing me to this beauty with a fine image.

[Harshad Barve]

Such a cute bird , lovely pose and colors , repost looks better
TFS

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks all for your comments, and help. I was not even aware of the head angle aspect when I shot this, so it will be something to watch in future shots.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Nice notes above, nice details, expose and angle..