It's Drying Time Again

The Anhinga’s or snake birds as they are sometimes called, have no oil on their feathers like other water fowl, thus every two or three dives for fish, they must dry their feathers. This is a classic pose as they spread their wings for maximum sun or drip time. This one decided that it was also a good time to preen.

Specific Feedback Requested

As with most of my shots in and around the water, this was taken from a drifting boat so one gets just a fleeting one or two shots for composition. While I do like this composition, I worry that there is too much left side space, but cropping in further leaves him too cramped. Opinions, or suggestions always welcome.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
D500, 200-500 @ 400mm, f/8, 1/1600, ISO 640

50/50 ACR-PS

Cue for a song! I love this, especially the B and W treatment with the standout bird. Personal taste, but I’d remove the vertical branch to the right of its wing, and its shadow. Otherwise, 5 stars, Chris.

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It’s a harder edit than you might think, but perhaps I’ll try it again.

Very nice, Chris. I love the pose and the black and white works well for this species, though they do have a bit of color that I find interesting. As to composition, if you have the complete reflection, you might try cropping to a vertical and tempting any remnants of that large stub slanting in from the left. Otherwise I like it fine as posted.

Nicely done, the B&W accentuates some of the contrast and most likely makes the images a little less ‘busy’ than the coloured one would be. Like it ! Hans

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The black and white treatment works well; very artistic. I like the curve of the perch and the overall composition works for me. I like the branch on the left leaning in and with the branch on the right, frames the anhinga. Nicely done.

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Hi Chris
This frame is well balanced and the black and white works for me. Removing the stick just past the wing would be nice, but you need a program that does a really good job a cloning thing. I tried in DXO Photo Lab and was not happy with the results. Nice work.
Peter

Thanks for all your comments. I really don’t mind the stick to the right because it shows the natural habitat and I’m all for not losing any more of the “place” than is absolutely necessary.

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I agree that the black-and-white treatment works really well with this image. This stick is distracting but it does belong there. So I agree with your decision not to crop it out. I would however like to see some plumage detail in the body. It just may be that the black-and-white treatment subdues the texture of the body feathers. You could also post a color image as comparison.

Unfortunately, the vagaries of drifting in a boat at about 60 feet only allows so much sharpness.

I like this colour version too! Especially the matching bill and tail tip.

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If you were shooting this Anhinga from 60 feet away, it must be a fairly large crop? It then makes more sense with respect to the plumage detail. Good job on the processing of this non noisy image. At least, you had good light.

Thanks all for your good suggestions and comments. A 400mm on a 1/2 frame at 400mm is the equivalent of 650mm which accounts for the detail I was able to get at that distance. When my friends and me shoot wildlife, we rarely get closer than 60 feet on large birds and 25-30 feet on small birds like Least Bitterns or Green Herons. Mostly when we are shooting, it is mating season and we don’t like to stress these wonderful creatures any more than necessary.