Nature Shots - Birds in Motion

Okay, here are some pics from this weekend. Critique away. I still need alot of help.

All three are excelent.. well exposed shots showing the details of the subjects and yet the exposures work great for the back ground as well. Well done!

My only critique would be that in the case of the two bird shots.. you may be too cropped and centered for some peoples liking.. the pelican especially will benifit from a simple yet effective cropping technique most often used in such conditions...

Crop the bird so it is more right of center in this case.. leaving it to the right of center gives the impression that the motion will carry it into the center of the image.. it's one of the hard and fast rules that really does work most of the time.. allways have a subject in motion OFF center.. not in the center.

It could also be used for the Heron.. in that case I would grab the upper right corner of the "frame" and pull right and up... leaving room for the Heron to fly in it's "up to the right" direction... but you could leave the left and bottom alone.

Interestingly.. for the 'gator comming at us.. I think the tight centered crop works PERFECTLY!

Great shots!

Nice shot of the Great Blue. With the detail showing on the feathers and tail, you really don't mind seeing this one from the backside.

I was kind of waiting for a "punch line" for the third shot under the caption of "birds in motion".... I thought that perhaps one had not been in motion quite quickly enough

I very much like the photo's but nevertheless have some critique.

The pelican not sharp enough.
The great blue overexposed.
Aligators right back leg is sharper than it's head.

Thanks for the tips/critiques, guys. Great information that I will absorb so that i can do better next time.

Also, appreciate the input about having the subject in the corner, not centered. I can at least easily fix that now.

Jewel