Magpie Geese

[Richard Mc Donald]

1D MKII - 500mm - ISO200 - f/5.6 - -1/3exp

Taken some time ago in our local lagoon.

They're big and goofy but have a lovely nature. On this particular day they allowed me get get closer than ever.

Richard

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Richard,
I like the bird in the foreground. I also like the inclusion of the habitat. I see details in the darks and the whites look pretty good to me. My personal opinion is that the two birds in the background are a little distracting since they are looking away from us. Nothing you can do about the head angles of those two birds now. Next time in the field you could wait for better angles from all the birds but then you could be there all day. If it was possible for you to have moved to your left it might have helped.
If this were mine I would de-emphasize the bird closest to the bird in the foreground and background by blurring them. I would remove the bird that is facing away from us (I was unsure which leg went with which bird so I left just the one; looks a little odd to me now). To reframe the image I would add some canvas to the left side of the image and crop a little off of the right. Of course if it is within your ethics. I hope you do not mind but I attempted to perform these suggestions to show you what I mean. With a little care and time these edits could be done a better. These of course just suggestions as you are the artist and the presentation is up to you.
I would also suggests that for images that you are requesting critiques that you use the space to post the picture larger and leave the border off. It makes it easier to critique.

Thanks for sharing.

[Tony Whitehead]

Good suggestions by Phil. Near bird is great with nice pose, light and habitat.