Welcome! Congrats on your first post! Beautiful portrait, nice and close. I like the crop but would ideally like to see the feet. There appears to be something blocking the legs from being sharp throughout, perhaps a reed? I would definitely clone out the branch in the lower right and blur the lines in the background. A simple brown background would be perfect, the lines are distracting. Looking forward to seeing more of your work!
A big welcome to BPN. Interesting first post. Excellent exposure of your whites. Sharp. The lores may be just a bit oversaturated, but you were there.
Justin made some good points. Would be nice to see the feet. I would try to burn in the legs a bit where the out of focus foreground elements crossed, to see if you can darken those areas.
The branch in lower right corner is distracting, and I would also be inclined to clone it out.
The background is an interesting situation. The sweeping lines remind me a bit of the aigrettes on the bird, so rather than completely blurring the background, I might try gradually increasing the blur, but still leaving a subtle hint of the lines there.
I don't know if the feet are cropped out or you were just that close. If just that close I would go for a head and shoulders portrait. A lot of folks here will recommend cloning out the stick at the bottom right. Me, I say it was there and is part of the image. To each his own.
Thanks for your comments. To clarify a couple of things, this was full frame. I maybe should have cropped it to head and shoulders only. As for the lores, I didn't increase sats on this one at all. Justin is right, there was a reed in the foreground that blocked some of the legs. I will maybe try to increase the contrast there locally. Thanks again for your well thought out comments.:)
Great looking subject. I think the exposure and pose are very nice. I would agree to go head/neck (portrait) or more of the entire subject. Agree on more background blur and removal of the stick in the lower right.
New acronym for Photoshop manipulation? If you're into that kind of thing. (IYITKOT)