Reddish Egret plays John Travolta

[Phil2 Stone]

Olympus E-400; ISO 400; 1/1000s; f/9.

At Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, SW Florida.

I got as low as physically possible to get this. There was only one viewing point available and I had it!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Phil - love the pose and the title - would crop some from the bottom and RHS and run some NR on the background.
A little more detail under the left wing area would have been nice - whites on the beak look close so softer light might have been the only chance.
Good show :)

[Dave Mills]

Hi Phil, agree with Lances comments. Lighting is critical when your shooting images like this. Shooting later in the day creates very contrasty light and is difficult to capture detail in the lights and darks depending on it's direction and intensity...

[Mark Young]

Nice capture of an interesting pose. Would love to have seen this with a lower angle.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Three major problems:1) high contrast direct sunlight-no detail at all in shadows. Need low contrast soft light (cloudy, overcast) . It is possible to boost low contrast post processing to make the image "pop" more. Decreasing contrast PP rarely works- the dark areas will have significant noise and still no detail.
2) If anything, a lower viewing angle and vertical composition needed here. Subject matter often makes whether horiz or vertical format is used. Clear in this image; the subject is taller than wide. I think that reflections need to be either very interesting in their swirling configuration or resemble what they are based on pretty closely. Neither here, so I would not include it.
3) I see where your going with the wing configuration, but an apt title still doesn't make it work. Sorry. The reddish egret wing configurations, when feeding, are fascinating in them selves, but not all of them work.
regards~Bill