Metal Model

Thank you, Jim.

That blessed "horizontalize" step…

Maurizio

A nice bird in habitat image that with a little work could have more impact. I'd work first on rotation adjustment as this appears to need a little clockwise adjustment. Second, If this has been cropped I would like to see more room on the left side of the frame and less on the right since the bird's head is turned towards the left side of the frame, crop off some of the bottom to minimize the brightness there. I would also reduce the saturation & contrast some. I can't comfortably evaluate sharpness and detail at the small size posted. Posting a larger version would help us to help you with that.

Mia
Thank you for your critique, I really appreciate it.
Thumbs up for the straightening: it is really needed (my fault!).
The file has not been cropped (as a general rule now I try not to crop or better I try to work at the composition when the picture is taken, not after). Anyway in this case my composition is not optimal, as you say. So I will experiment with the crop you propose.
About the detail: really a problem. At the time I shot with a Sigma 150-500, very useful to get you there in terms of focal lenght, but (in my copy) really abysmal in regard of sharpness... I got a wonderful Nikkor 500/4 AFS-VR (wonderful money, too…) a few months later, but haven't found the Glossy Ibis again…
Problem is here in Italy even with 500 plus TC2,0 you end up often short…

Cropping off a lott of the bottom on this would help a lot in addition to the straightening. The reflection here is not good enough imo to leave it in and all that bright water is distracting. Looking forward to more of your images and hope you find the ibis again with your new lens! They are so pretty. Sharon

Jim, Mia and Sharon: is this version any better?
Thank you for your watching and suggesting!

Your second image is a nice improvement in my opinion! A lot of that bright water taken away puts my eye more on that pretty ibis!. And now he is looking into the frame, which is generally preferred, rather than out of it. Hopefully, with your new lens, you will find this beauty again, and the crop and image quality won't be an issue, but I applaud you for making this image better with what you had to work with. Sharon

Great bird, great setting. I like the repost much better. You should have a much better time of it with the new lens, but I am not a huge fan of the 2X.