First time post processing. Workflow was as following:
1. Removed noise in bridge
2. Sharpened in bridge but for some reason post conversion, the image still wasn't looking sharp in photoshop.
3. Reduced exposure in bridge by 1 stop
4. Sharpened again in Photoshop
5, Cropped
Exif
F/5.0 ISO 200, 1/1000, 84mm, Canon 70-200 F4 L non IS
Please provide some guidance in terms of composition etc.
Pankaj, good for you for digging in to the post processing! My suggestion would be to save any and all sharpening until the final reduction and do it in Photoshop instead of ACR. The general rule of thumb is to add a bit of clarity (which is like sharpening) in ACR (I usually go somewhere between 15-40 with most images around 30) and then do all your other processing. At the end, reduce your size and THEN use one of the sharpening tools in PS (I'd recommend unsharp mask) to do the final tweaks.
I usually save my image as a full size, a size for printing, and then a size for the web. I never sharpen my full size PSD file but I do sharpen for the printing and web versions at the very end of all my other processing.
Now...on to the image...
I think you have an interesting angle here but, because of where the sun is located, you've got some whites of the bird in deep shadow. You would have a stronger image if he'd turned slightly to your right and more parallel to the camera sensor and if you had been able to get a lower angle from which to shoot from. That would probably have taken care of the shadows as well.
You do have good detail in the bird and a nice clean BG. In an image like this with the reflection of the bird going so long below, I'd probably go with a vertical crop and give it a little bit more room at the bottom so his head wasn't so close to the edge of the frame and a little less up top.
This is very artistic and a wall-hanger. it breaks the camera-angle rule (too high) but you get a nice reflection on beautiful water. This sort of high angle rarely works but I think it does here for artistic reasons. The phase angle of the sun (looks like about 30° to your left) interacts nicely with the head angle to give great lighting. I like the composition. Have a look at this excellent BPN thread on sun angle:
Swimming Pelican
