This was taken on an overcast morning last week at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. The image was PPed in Lightroom and PSElements. I did remove a small rock above its middle back. And I did some work on the eye, some NR and sharpening.
Nice soft light, well exposed, nice eye work, soft background(water color) works well with bird.
The image would be more engaging if he was turned more towards us.
Do you have more reflection? Looks like it is running into some grasses or perhaps shoreline below, so perhaps not. I might be tempted to crop up about 1/2 way from bottom to the bird, and then extend the canvas on the right. My thinking there is, if he is looking away, be sure to give him some room to gaze into, to sell the idea that there is something out there of interest to him. This might soften the impact of the head angle.
I might clean up a few of the darker spots on the water, because it is otherwise so clean.
Hi Wendell. One of your best, IMHO. Head looks almost parallel to sensor, but agree that a bit more turn might have given more contact. Concur with Randy on the crop. "Lot's to like here" as Lance would say.
Randy:
No, I don't have more reflection. I did almost no cropping of the image, though I do have a bit more on the right side, which I will include. I'll also crop as you suggest from the bottom. I deliberately left room there for its virtual feet, but I see now that I left too much. Thanks for your critique . . .
Juvy Heron
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