Greater yellowlegs

I havent had much time to post lately, but here's a bird I shot last week.

So any tips for what I did wrong?

Who says it is wrong?

It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Some of us go out and look for interesting bird species, and we shoot a photo for identification purposes. We can study the image with our bird identification books. On the other hand, maybe you want a photo that is so compelling that as soon as a bird lover sees it, they want to pull out their wallet, buy it, and hang it on a living room wall.

The reddish vegetation in the background adds a natural flavor to the bird. But then the emptiness of a bird standing there with only water around might add a moody flavor. The least bit of motion blur on the foot of a bird is generally not good.

Here is one of mine, for comparison. Not necessarily better or worse, but just different.

---Bob Gross---

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I hadnt had a comment for a while so I figured something was wrong. I might ask what is wrong from now on because of your insightful comment. I was trying to convey a sense of movement in the first and show the cold drabness in the second. Is there a particular reason why foot movement is considered bad. What about wing movement? Are there any resources on techniques like this?

Here is the best source I have found:http://www.birdsasart.​com/
BTW, I did get a sense the bird was cold in your second shot. I like the first bird in mid step but I would also prefer no blur (faster shutter). Blurred feet or wings imply a really fast bird to me. GYL are fun birds to shoot, IMHO. I just got this shot yesterday. I took this because of the reflection.

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When non-photographers see a bird photo with foot movement, they equate that to something shot with a cheap/simple camera.

When bird photographers see a flying bird photo with wing movement, they take into account how fast your shutter must have been going, and how much you probably had to be panning in order to get it that way. In some cases, it is unavoidable. Last winter in this forum, we were lucky to see many shots of the Canadian owls, and some of those were incredible. A bird flying directly at the photographer, and everything was perfectly in focus with no motion blur. That is a goal.

---Bob Gross---

Also, it's generally best to leave some room in front of the bird for it to "look" into. Your second shot and the two subsequent examples have this and you can see the difference it does compositionally. They just feel less clausterphobic.

The setting in the first shot is very nice, and if this is a crop you could recrop it with more room in front...