Three Kings Deciding Who Goes into the Water First

What technical feedback would you like if any? Any and all help is appreciated.

What artistic feedback would you like if any? Any and all help is appreciated.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Nikon D5, Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 with 1.7 teleconverter @ 340 mm
Taken at f/10, i/500 sec, ISO 640

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ig cheryl_a_kuhl

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I’ll be interested to read how others view this. For me, the three form a leading line from the one in focus, showing outstanding detail, to the one at the rear. My eye tends to be drawn to the back of the photo. That may just be a visual quirk of mine. The one in focus is certainly a beautiful image-love the colors and detail.

Cherly: it’s always a treat to see King Penguins and your photo does their magisterial qualities justice. I like how they fade from in focus in the foreground to out of focus in the background. Congrats! Was this taken on South Georgia? Richard

A cool arrangement, Cheryl. I love the arrangement of the first and second penguins, however,my eye keeps getting drawn to the pink area on the bill of the second-maybe dim it a bit? There’s a small bright patch right at the top of the frame that you might want to remove.

Gorgeous color and detail.

Thanks all for the helpful comments. This is a great forum to test out different perspectives, and I really appreciate the time you have taken to offer feedback. Yes, this was taken on South Georgia last December. Filling the screen with only a partial bird in the foreground was, for me, a bit out of my comfort zone, then adding the lower DoF to get the fade was again a risk…
Your attention to detail is really helping me look at photos more analytically, with less emotional attachment. Great!