Kentish Plover (Small-in-frame)

[Aditya Sridhar]

I'm a massive fan of small-in-frame images, but I can never seem to get the right balance of space vs size of bird. This image was shot at the same beach and on the same day as the Lesser Sand-Plover from yesterday. I could've cropped the image tight, but I would've lost the blue strip at the top that I love, and the end result did not have the same visual impact without the splash of color. I did some minor beach clean-up, dodging and burning, NR, and color adjustments.

I realize that most people won't like this kind of shot, but this is something I'd like to experiment with when I'm physically unable to get close to the birds. I'd appreciate any tips on composing habitat/small-in-frame shots. In this case, what would've made the image more appealing - a different composition, lighting, some other element to add interest - or does it work as presented?

Camera - Nikon D850
Focal Length - 700mm
Aperture - f/8
Shutter Speed - 1/640s
ISO - 3600
Handheld
Manual, Auto ISO
70-80% of Full-frame

As always, all comments & CC are appreciated