Australasian Darter (Cormorant) Study with 5D3

This photo was the result of a good five hours of tracking this chap who positioned himself against numerous cluttered backgrounds but it all paid off when he decided to play ball by flying up to the jetty so I had distant grass as a background (I was looking back at him from the end of the jetty towards the park).

I went for a shallow DoF and this is the result. I'm personally pretty happy with this, I must say or, to put it another way, I walked away feeling that my time had been well spent, lol.

All C&C most welcome as always. Very much looking forward to your feedback. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

awesome. stunning shot. the bill could be improved, but none the less..

Incredible shot!

N.V.M. wrote in post #14301345
awesome. stunning shot. the bill could be improved, but none the less..

May I ask how so, just so I know what you mean? (always learning and happy to take things on board).

Your hard work and persistence paid off with an excellent shot. It feels just a little tight on the left for me but it's still a stunner.

Charles Roy wrote in post #14301354
Incredible shot!

Thank you!

Candor wrote in post #14301362
Your hard work and persistence paid off with an excellent shot. It feels just a little tight on the left for me but it's still a stunner.

Thank you, Candor. Point taken concerning the left spacing, perhaps a little too tight there.

WOW, I would like to think you would be happy with this, otherwise you would be very hard to please.
Fantastic image, all your effort was well rewarded with a brilliant clear background.
Well done, Stuart.

Wow, great job Andrew. Your time tracking this guy has payed off. Beautiful IQ!

super close-up Andrew

Thanks very much for the lovely feedback, much appreciated!

Great shot Andrew, your persistence paid off, could do with a bit more room on the left.

Time well spent, indeed! An outstanding shot.
Al

WOW factor is really high with this picture.
Incredibly sharp image and color of the background nicely highlights bird itself.
Picture is worth to be put on pages of NatGeo.

OMG, stunning shot. Well worththe effort.

Great colors, great details and sharpness!
You've done a great job!
Have you done anything to the background?