Small Pratincole

welcome to NPN. a really fine image of this pratincole. 
we're looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Welcome to NPN.  Thanks for posting this image.

It is very nice.  Capturing one of these little guys flying along the water is tough and you've done a very nice job.  Love the wing tip in the water.  Interesting choice of a vertical composition.  Was it a horizontal cropped to a vertical?  

Looking at the larger version, the image doesn't quite have the feather detail I'd like to see.  It is pretty sharp, but not quite there.  Could be from a significant crop?  or maybe some jpeg compression is hurting the overall display.

Congrats on this image.  We look forward to more of your images as well as your participation in providing comments on other photographers work.

Keith Bauer Sir, this is a horizontal cropped to a vertical. Its a crop but my lack of Processing expertise may be also the reason. I give the compressed Jpeg for the web for reference.
Thanks a ton for your input.
Thanks, Biraj Sarkar Sir too.
with regards,
Somdeb Biswas

Congratulations, Somdeb, on your first NPN posting. This shot is an excellent technical achievement and the composition is particularly enhanced by the bird’s close proximity to the water surface. David

Welcome to NPN, and I certainly am looking forward to seeing more of your images, Somdeb.  It is a beautiful bird, and captured at the perfect moment with the wing tip gracing the water.  I am not as advanced as some are on this site, but it appears to me that the horizontal version is a bit underexposed, and I know when I have underexposed and try to brighten it up that the noise is an issue.  Maybe in trying to remove some noise it softened the detail in the feathers.  Just a thought.  Like I said, I am in the process of learning too, so we are growing in this together.  You will learn so much from the great photographers on this site.  You did a great job with capturing him at just the right angle to the camera, and with the tip of the wing in the water.  Love it. 

Thanks a ton for your input, Shirley Freeman Sir.
Yes - the original shot as you see is underexposed as I was struggling with shutter speed. During Processing and NR I have lost the details as it seems.
I am just a beginner in the field. This is a great forum to learn and correct myself. This is the thing I like the most about this forum.
Thanks again for your input.
with regards,
Somdeb Biswas.

Welcome to NPN Somdeb!  Great job capturing this beauty in flight.  The uncropped version looks pretty sharp, during processing make sure you don't apply any noise reduction to the bird.  The head and body look pretty good in the larger version but the primaries (wing tips) have lost a lot of detail. 

Welcome to the NPN Avian Gallery, Somdeb.  This is a beautiful first post, and I look forward to seeing much more of your work and reading your comments on other's images.  The exposure is excellent in this image and I love the angle you caught.  The wing tip just touching the water is really special.  My only suggestion for improvement is that with the dynamics being largely horizontal, a landscape presentation might be even more impressive than this already excellent image.  Welcome again.

A very warm welcome to NPN Somdeb. Great first post. I really like the focal plane of the head and body of the Pratincole that leaves just a slight blur to the wings and a very nice smooth back ground (BG).  Nice work.

Amazing moment to capture where the wing tip is just touching the water surface and is the centre of attraction for the image, well focused and exposed bird and very apt vertical composition with the blueish water...very well done and congrats on a fine first post here.

Welcome to NPN!  Love this cute little bird, especially the red along the beak!  Nice focus, comp and color 

Somdeb,
What a marvelous start, I would agree with the suggestion of trying a landscape crop

Thanks a ton - EVERYONE - for your inputs.
After you pointed out, I understood a horizontal crop could also be done and would have been more effective though earlier I did not try it at all ( I totally missed the idea). Thanks to all again for the suggestion.
Looking forward to more inputs.
with warm regards,
Somdeb