Black-winged stilt, Shanghai

[Craig Brelsford]

Wildlife persists in China's largest city! It's even possible that black-winged stilts breed in the city limits of Shanghai. I photographed this adult last month at a sod farm a few km north of Pudong Airport and a few hundred meters inland from the East China Sea. Nikon D300, 600mm f/4 plus 1.4x teleconverter, f7.1, 1/320 sec., ISO 200, exp. comp. -1.0.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Exposure, angle and sharpness look good. I would put the bird further to the right in the frame as it is a bit too centered and wish the head were angled toward you a bit. If it were mine, I would remove the bright band in the lower left. If you have the entire reflection, it might work as vertical crop, too.

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful bird, very nicely captured. Love the colors of the bird and bg. I second Axel's suggestions: bird further to the right, and remove the lower white band. Still, a lovely image.

[Fabs Forns]

Just look at that eye! Very nice exposure and agree with Axel in placing him more to the right of the frame.
Very sharp and nice, green habitat included. TFS.

[Randy Stout]

Craig:

Nice techs as mentioned. Like the low shooting angle and 'brushed' background.
Another vote for moving him to the right.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Well exposed Craig, and thae show shows up very well. I agree with moving him back to the right.

[Craig Brelsford]

I have noted the unanimous vote to move the stilt to the right. When I did so, the white band looked more like a part of the natural scene; I did not remove it.

[Arthur Morris]

Wow, what a stunning bird. Yes to smaller and back in the frame. Incredibly sharp and incredibly white. The legs are definitely over-saturated though.