Cormorant - BIF

[Harshad Barve]

Dear All
yet anothet try with BIF ,
Taken with D700 , 600mm , ISO 400, F5.6 , 1/2000 , tripod
All C & C are most welcome and much appreciated
Harshad

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

For me it is much harder to capture black bird in flight than with the white one, and you did a good job here. The wing position and black details look good, just wish for the head to turn toward the camera rather than away. If the shot is taken a few second before this would be great. I like the little water droplets falling down from the bird as well. The background look a bit slant, maybe CCW rotation, and I see a bit of halo on the top wing.

[Gail Spitler]

Harshad - looks like a good capture of the BIF. For me, the bird is too small in the image especially as there isn't much happening the rest of the image. Unfortunately it will end up being a large crop. There are some rules of thumb about having the subject in a given percent of the image, but I can't remember them right now. Anyway, I've done a re-post just to give an example of what I am thinking of.
Cheers
Gail

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent re post Gail, might only have given even more room on the right !!!

For most small birds in frame they will look better close to one of the corners. With flight like any other type image we try seeing what the bg is like, white oof birds are usually problematic !!

btw these dark birds are tough regarding light, check out the upper wing fully lit, looks great .. lower wing in shadow has no detail ... having them both with light is not easy !!!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Not bad, Artie always says BIF look, for the sun and wind at your back if possible. Gail's repost is on the right track, a tad tight on the right but she removes some of the busy BG.

Gail is right about the object sizing, IMO, maybe too small in the frame (its all about feel anyway - right). Seems like I hear that the bird should fill at least 15/20% of the frame, Al is that correct? Unless you plan to include habitat, then its a different type of picture.

Al is right about lighting both wings, one usually has to watch the sun and wind and time things just right, hope for a reflection. I have tried it hundreds of times and rarely nailed it my self, if ever.

Anyway, nice work and its a fun day to spend with nature, good job Harshad.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Harshad. BIF are some of the hardest captures! Agree with the tech talk above, and glad to see you working at it. One of the biggest challenges for me is getting the bird coming toward me (or at least in front of me if flight is lateral) and getting "the look" from the bird. Finding the right opportunities and lots of practice will help a lot!!