Alafia Spoonie in Flight

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 7D
500mm
Handheld from Shadle's boat

ISO 400
1/1250
f/7.1

Took this at sunrise on Shadle's boat as we were headed out to Alafia Bank, last Feb. I just processed it for the first time, the spoonie was too near the left edge and I recently figured out how to add canvas!
Also lightened up shadowed parts of wings a bit, did a little recovery on whites, and desaturated a bit overall. Sharpened. Lightened sky a bit. This is a crop, maybe 50% or so. Hope details held up ok.
Bird almost too far past me, but maybe just enough still to make this a keeper? Would very much appreciate any and all comments. Thanks for looking.

[Mike Landwehr]

Melissa, you've done a nice job expanding the canvas to the left. The light is soft, and the colors are gorgeous. The entire image appears to be very sharp. I feel you could still use some more canvas on the left, to move the spoonbill a bit further out of the center of the frame.

[PRABIR BHATTACHARYYA]

Melissa, very nice job. Good frozen motion, gorgeous colours and good sharpness.
Yes, agree with Mike about the position in the frame.

[Melissa Groo]

Thank you Mike and Prabir. Here is another go, hope it's an improvement.

[Mike Landwehr]

Melissa, I like the revised composition with the extra canvas. Nice job.

[Gary Esman]

Re-post looks great, nice detail under the wings, sharp and exposure looks good also. I am NOT seeing a halo, which is tough to do against an all blue sky, so a congrats on that. Nice image.

Gary.

[Randy Stout]

Melissa:

Spoonies are always great fun, and Capt. James is the best at getting you to them at the right time!

I much prefer the repost with more room on the left. It sounds silly, but I often judge crops by the thumbnail. Because you aren't distracted by the details, and are only seeing the masses and shapes, I find it helpful to judge the crop.

His head being turned slightly towards you helps, even though his body is perhaps a sliver past you.

Cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

Good job adding canvas Melissa! Love the pink against the blue of the sky. The slight head turn saves the day but the shooting angle could be better.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice pose and details, the shooting angle was too steep but otherwise you nailed it

[Josh Clark]

Nice job Melissa on this Spoonie! Congrats on this BIF capture given the fact this was taken handheld from a boat (picturing a fishing boat). Regardless, nice full wing spread on this. Maybe it is my eyes (very tired) but the repost looks to have less noise in the sky and the pink feathers. I would say this is a keeper.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great underwing detail and the IQ looks great...Like the second crop...Shooting angle mentioned!

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks for the comments guys! VEry helpful and appreciated.

[Christopher Ciccone]

A lovely shot of a beautiful bird - the early light really does justice to the underside of the wings. I think your PP really turned this into a nice keeper!