Chris, this is really beautiful and you've done a lovely job on the blacks and the colors in this image. Waiting for the bird to turn his head closer to your camera sensor would have made for a better angle and gotten that beak tip in focus. It's always better to have the bird looking in your direction so go ahead and take this image when you can but hang on and get the one where he cocks his head in your direction!
Thank you all!
I did forget to mention that this was taken about 1:15 in the afternoon (didn't land in Miami until after 10:30 that morning) so sun was at a terrible point for photos - but I wasn't going to let that stop me from trying to find angles where I could try to "make it work."
OK - really feeling like a noob for asking - what is HA?
Sorry, HA stands for head angle. There is a large list of abbreviations used here but I can not remember where to find that list. Regarding the sun angle I was interested where was it in relationship to you and the subject. ie. straight behind you or 40 degrees to the left etc not so much how was it in the sky, in other words the phase angle.
Aha, that makes sense.
I believe the sun was likely coming over my left shoulder (something of a habit of mine if I can do it) but I cannot recall for sure how sharp the angle was.
Great details and lovely background on this cormorant portrait and the green eye makes this even better. I would also rather have the head angle more towards the photographer.
Double-crested Cormorant
