Osprey emerges with fish

[Ronald Zigler]

Unless I get lucky again some time soon, this might be the best image I will have for a while of an Osprey fishing. The light was not great, but at least this bird flew toward me after emerging from the water (the last time I tried this the bird flew in the opposite direction with its fish). As is often the case, the "best" image of the group is a compromise. I would have preferred an image with the bird's wings more perpendicular to the water, or in a slightly different position. This image seems to be the sharpest of the group. I am not sure how much more editing I can or should do here. Should I crop it more, or allow more space to one side or the other? Many thanks for your helpful comments. I still regret I did not get a decent shot of the bird's dive into the water. Following a diving Osprey with a camera is not easy. But, I suppose most of the experienced photographers already knew that.
Canon 60D, 300mm f4L + 1.4x, @ 1/2000, f6.3, ISO 500

[Ian Cassell]

Ron, this is a wonderful capture! I have never been able to get an image of a raptor with prey. You might work on the face a bit to lighten it up and get some fire in those eyes. I would also consider cloning some of the larger white blotches in the BG off the wing tips. TFS

[Ronald Zigler]

Thanks Ian. I have maybe three sequential shots of this particular scene of the Osprey having just emerged from the water (three that I think are "acceptable"--others are not so sharp). I am still having a hard time deciding which one is the "best" image. After trying to lighten the face of the bird on the image above (the second of the sequence), I put in another effort with my first image of this sequence. It was also the darkest image and I was not sure what I could do with it. I plan to update my software sometime from a dated version of Photo Elements to perhaps Lightroom. Anyhow, I like the spread tail feathers of this image which I am posting here. I tried to lighten the face on the bird as well. I also did just a tiny bit of work on the eye balls. What do you think of this image and how does it compare? I kind of like the rippling water below this image. It is more intense than the subsequent pictures since it is closer to the moment the bird came out of the water.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ron, I have to remind you of the "one image per post" rule and then move on. You caught a really nice moment here and congratulations on getting these images! I like the second one better, it really shows the tail nicely. I do like the first one too, as it seems to show better "tension" with the bird banking to its left. Good job on both images!

[Ronald Zigler]

Oops! Sorry about that added image. I can't decide which is the better picture. I suppose that is preferable over failing to get any decent images. Thanks again.