Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I went to a National Wildlife Refuge fairly close by this past Wednesday and stopped to photograph this egret in one of the channels. It ended up taking off, doing a flyby and landing in the road about 30 feet in front of me. It wouldn’t move until I was squeezing past it.
Specific Feedback
The water was pretty ugly as it usually is this time of year so I spent some time on cleanup. Too much? Not enough?
Technical Details
Sony A1, FE 200-600 +1.4 TC @ 602 mm, hand held from car, f/9, 1/1250, iso 3200, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Added a touch of canvas to the bottom for balance. Taken November 8th at 10:49AM under mostly overcast skies.
An elegant looking take off shot. The water looks fine, especially with the colorful reflection. The egret stands out nicely from the background.
Hello, Dennis, nice action shot of this egret. Funny thing is that I didn’t notice anything about the water until I read your text. Which makes me now wonder if the darkish patches are ‘dirt’ or remainders of cleaning up 
. I’d say as didn’t notice anything at first glance you did well ! Cheers, Hans
Hi Dennis
This does have that dreamy Great Egret take off look. In a perfect world, it would be nice to have more detail in the back wing, but that is only in a perfect world.
Peter
Nice pose you captured Dennis and I like the surroundings. Nice wing position. The head of the bird looks just a tad soft to me.
Very nice wing position and classic flight pose of this species Dennis! I am fine with the water. Think you did a good job with it. The head does appear to be a tiny bit soft to my eyes as well. Maybe another round of sharpening would cure it?
