Hook, Line and Sinker

John,
Sweeeeeeet . . . .
Well Done

The large version is absolutely exquisite! Cropped a tad tight for my tastes but can understand why you did it, the detail with the leader is exceptional.

Very nice love the whole bird lit up -- not an ewasy task

Excellent detail, great catch...for both you and the Osprey...but not so much for the fisherman, who obviously lost his catch.
If it were mine, I might add a bit more canvas in front. It would be real easy if you don't have it in the original shot. I understand why you kept the extra room in back to show the weight and I think that was a very good decision.
All around stunning shot!

Great shot with an extraordinary story involving a sad fisherman.

John,
Cracking shot, with remarkable detail, I would agree with Kurt that a little more room on the left (as viewed) would be nice

Wonderful detail and what an interesting catch, way to go.

Very nice shot - fine detail, great view of the trout, both eyes visible.
Extremely tight in the frame, but it would be easy to clone in a lot more room on th left and bottom.
Sandy

Wow, great light and excellent capture. Very nice detail in the large version but ditto on adding a little extra room.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Yeah, I wish the original had room to the left and I thought about adding canvas but The Cop in me said that would be the first step on the slippery slope Next thing you know I'll be tying a layer mask tourniquet around my mouse finger and shooting up Gaussian Blur. I settled on this cropping because this shot in my mind is really more about the fish's bad day than about the bird's next meal. Does the subject need room to move into in this case? In general I support the extra room in front of a subject - the "where to next" component of an image that helps create a storyline. But in this case we all know this is going to the osprey's perch so one could argue more empty sky to the left wouldn't add to the image or story. Of course had I had the original pixels to work with, would I have kept them in? Probably out of habit. I'm sure the Cop and The Artist would have plenty to say either way. (The Cop and The Artist wage battle for my soul on each shot - my blog has two posts on this battle, please visit vermphoto.com and a shot of a Steller's Jay and Peregrine sharing the same branch and cluttered BG that sparked a similar debate.)

Terrific detail; nice exposure.

Great Shot that tells a great story John. I can almost see the expression on the fisherman's face Excellent exposure work on the osprey, the details are awesome. I hope the osprey was able to avoid the hook while enjoying it's meal.

Sweet Photo!!!

Ken Archer