Here’s a photo of a GBH that was hunting on a kelp bed in salt water. During its hunt, it was able to catch this juvenile ling cod. I liked being able to see its prey and the wing spread. Cropped to about 75% of the original.
What technical feedback would you like if any? This was taken near noon. What suggestions would you have for dealing with the light.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
1/1000, f/8 and ISO 1800
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What an action, Richard. Even though you said it’s noon and the light is indeed a little harsh but the lit up face makes up for it. A few suggestions:
- The highlight on the face is a little hot. If it’s not clipped, you can dial back the highlights there a little to reveal more feather detail.
- I would remove the kelp/log just below the far wing of the bird. It should be pretty easy to clone that out.
- I would apply a gradient burn on the bottom of the image so the OOF kelp in the foreground does not stand out too much in the image.
Great action, Richard. I love the wingspread. I think you might get a more powerful composition by coming up from the bottom to eliminate the string of out of focus kelp in the foreground and maybe de-centering the bird a bit horizontally. The detail is excellent.
I am really enjoying the action here. I do agree with Adhika on possible modifications.
Adhika, Dennis and David: many thanks for your comments and suggestions. They are appreciated. I started from scratch with the original raw and implemented some of the suggestions rendering this result. The tonalities have changed a bit, but that’s what happens when you re-visit a photo two days later. Richard
Richard, this is a really nice catch for you and the GBH. That wing spread is sweet. I like what you did in your repost. It helps if you edit the title add + Repost after you make an edit so others will know that you have edited it since they may have viewed your image. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty to do that for you. I am hoping next week to get out and shoot where we usually see a lot of wading birds, and I do hope one poses for me like this! 
I like what you did with the repost, Richard. Nice work.
