My first bird thread (go easy!):

Wemt to go shoot some fun landscapes this AM, but it was foggy and crappy.
Found this guy on the way:

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I like all three shots, but, ( and this is just my opinion), I would crop out the sky to make them all a square format, as the sky adds nothing of interest to the images.

yeah, about that:
https://photography-on-the.net …p?t=303620&high​light=crop

I'm not going easy on you just coz its your first bird post! Very nicely done , you nailed the whites well on a dark day. Hope that wasnt too harsh. lol

The shots are very nice . They are technically right on ,but the composition IMHO is lacking. The subject seems to get lost . I read your thread about cropping so I am going under the assumption you wanted this much space around the subject . I am still a beginner at all of this so please don't be offended by my critique.

I think you did a good job, in bad conditions.

Three nice habitat shots here Ben.

I'm sure that area as many opinions on cropping as there are members here but I sometimes crop for a couple of reasons. First if I was too far away from the subject and I want it to be larger in the overall final frame. The second reason is that I often take a shot when there is little time to compose it. I'd rather get the bird, or other subject, first and then compose other shots if I have time. That being said these are your photos and your choice.

I like all three but #1 the best. He is sure bright for how gloomy it looks. I kind of like the gloominess in fact.

You'll notice on this forum that we tend to crop the heck out of our images. Every once in a while it's nice to see a shot "out of camera", or close to what the photographer was seeing through the viewfinder. Your first shot summed up the conditions and I probably would have left it alone for that reason. The others might get whittled down a bit, but overall I like the mood captured by the dark skies. Well done! (and no more begging for mercy... this is an easy crowd to live with...)

no.1 for me but there all very nice and this is first bird ive waited nearly 2 years to a eagret so i would be very happy. as village said nice to open shots.

Very well done but I agree that they need cropping. I think that would emphasis that the birds were intended to be the centre of attention.

Nice shots. The whites of the egret are well exposed. The image looks very sharp and could do well with a tighter crop to focus the viewer more on the bird than the background landscape. Looking forward to seeing more of your photography.

- Hung

Love the colors along with exposer. I think I might have shot this in a landscape format without a tight crop. A great place for a composite me thinks. Just a couple thoughts to ponder.

Stunning images - I love the photos and the PS work.

I like them the way they are. Was it actually raining?