Great Crested Grebe II

Simon, I love the rich colors in this shot and the fish is nice too. To me the bird is a bit too centered for my taste. If this were mine I would take a bit from the bottom and add some to the top. The back of the bird and the water drops are great and very sharp. The head and the fish are less sharp. The bird's head movements dealing with the fish at 1/200 probably caused some motion blur there.

I was thinking about the same framing changes that Ron describes. The head and fish look good and sharp to me, just wish that the catchlight was more visible in the Grebe's eye. I would be ecstatic to get a grebe photo showing a nice fish in the beak like this!

I'd be happy with this Simon. The colors and low angle are wonderful, the fish is great (especially with the eye so visible) and I think your composition works, though my tastes do sometimes leave less room in the direction the bird is flying/swimming than others prefer. I agree that both heads seem less sharp than the grebe's back - noticeable but not too bad. The eye seems slightly strange to me, though I'm not sure why.

Looks like you got a touch of light on the eye (can see it better in the reflection actually). I would consider easing off the crop depending on the original composition as it feels a little cramped.

I think this looks fine as presented, but I might actually try moving the bird down in the frame a touch.

nice capture, Simon. I like the colors of the water, and the fish is fantastic. Your comp works for me as is. All I'd want is for a slightly better view of the eye.

Stunning image Simon. Great water color, perfect reflection and a meal to boot. As far as the comp I would either try to center the bird vertically by adding more foreground to the bottom of the image or for me I personally would add more to the background (top of the image) to divide your comp into thirds. I don't really like a centered image most of the time. Just my two cents worth. Very nice!

Looks good to me, just wish for a bit more of the eye and while it may not be off level, it does appear to need some straightening. Most likely an optical illusion caused by the circles.Good work!

Great colours and action Simon. I agree with Ron about the crop.

cheers
Rob

Simon, great color and tone here. You might play with the crop and I lean toward Ron Dudley's suggestion of cutting off a bit on the right side, although the image is so rich in color and action it suits me as is.

Greetings Simon...I, too, think the head and fish are just a tad OOF. This may be due to a slow shutter speed or it may be that the DOF didn't quite extend far enough. This sometimes happens when using the center autofocus point. The autofocus point is placed on the grebe's back but the DOF is too shallow to cover the head. If you have to use the center autofocus point make sure to place the autofocus point on the head, press the shutter release halfway to "lock" the focus, and recompose the image.

Nice one Simon, good to catch it with prey, like the water surface, though would like a clearer view of the grebes eye.

Great moment captured, I like that we can see the eye of the fish and bet there are more details in the blacks.

Wonderful image Simon.
May