Hi Allen, I like the basic COMP and the inclusion of the full REFL but wish that you had been able to get fully parallel to the subject. Though the eye is fairly sharp the bird's feathers seem to be lacking fine detail. An increase in contrast and possibly selective sharpening of the bird with a contrast mask would give the image more pop. I do like the water.
BTW, TAT for your membership support.
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I really like the action you captured and the water has a beautiful quality to it. The overall sharpness looks OK to me, but the bird seems a little dark and wish the eye and beak to be better highlighted.
Hi Allen - Do you mind a repost? If not, please let me know and I will take it down. I've tweaked your contrast to my personal liking here using a Curves Adjustment in CS4. Alternatively, you could do this in the Adobe Camera Raw window in Elements or Bridge by increasing by the Brightness Slider and also the Blacks Slider. Canon's DPP has similar controls. Also appears that there is a slight color cast to the image, judging by the purplish tones on the rocks. I would adjust the white balance during early stages of RAW conversion.
Dave, I certainly don't mind a repost from you...thank you for doing this.
I have done a little rework myself. I increased contrast as Arthur suggested and I also added some canvas at the bottom. Mine is below. You produced a much lighter version which gives me food for thought. I was thinking if I printed the image I might need to lighten it up as well. Thank you for the rework. -- Allen