This image was made last week on the beach of Rincon de Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico.
Slightly cropped and sharpened
Rolling surf prevented me from lowering the camera beyond this point.
Camera: Canon 40D
Lens: Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS
ISO: 320
Shutter Speed: 1/1600
Aperture: f/7.0
Focal Length: 280mm
no flash
hand held
Roger you were on the right side of the light for this image. I like the bird in mid-stride but would have preferred a lower angle. The only other thing that might improve this would be to have a bit more space on the left in front of the bird.
I am good with the angle for the reasons Andy suggested. I like the shadow a lot. Stephen's suggestion for more room in front is good too since the bird is running. I suggest some local contrast enhancement using USM at 20 amount and 60 radius and 4 threshold.
I like the action, light angle, and clean background. It could maybe use a bit more room at the left, but it also works well as presented. If I wanted to be hyper-critical, I'd say that the bird's head was turned about 1 degree away from you. :)
Lovely action in this image and the shadow is a real bonus for me , I agree with above comments on a bit more USM and a tad more room to the left but it is still very nice as presented Roger. Thanks for sharing.