Great skua in dawn light

One from my recent trip to Shetland. This one shows a sub-adult great skua hanging around at dawn waiting for its breakfast. I rarely see the sun in Shetland so have to make the most of it when it does appear. This was taken at Hermaness where I camped for a little bit until the wind picked up and I scuttled back to my camper van! Nikon D3S, 600mm VR lens, ISO 200, colder than it looks!
C&C's always welcome

Love the pose here and the placing of the Skua in the frame, would like to see a crop from the bottom though, a little too much oof grass for me

Perhaps too much lower part but a great shot of the skua.

Top half is excellent, bottom half looks a bit blurry to me
Well done.

Geoff.

Nice.... perhaps lose just a tad from the bottom, but plenty of uses for that space....

A glorious shot. Top drawer stuff


Simon

Will do for me as is Andrew

Excellent

Hello Mate

Very nice my kind of shot. Can you imagine if you had stayed in bed and missed this kind of light.

Danny

A bit too much oof foreground for my tastes, really like the skua and the light in this shot and can see the potential for adding text but as a stand alone shot I would personallly prefer slightly less negative space in the lower frame,
Lee

The bird itself is great, as is the pose with the open beak. I'm not so keen on all the foreground which is just a little over-powering.

Hi all

All interesting points so far so many thanks for your feedback. I always find it fascinating to see what people do and don't like about this kind of image and whilst I don't necessarily share exactly the same opinion I can completely understand the reasons why some are not so keen on the foreground.

Cheers

Andy

Andy, I like the mush but for me there is just too much of it. I guess you also shot this in landscape and that would be good to see. Andrew

A great image in my opinion, and something to aspire too!
Regards,
Paul Rosser.

Great shot Andy - I like the mush

Oscar

Hi Andy

Love the lighting, bird and some of the FG mush but as a stand alone image I find it a little too much. That said I can see all that mush would have it's uses.

David

awesome and very striking image Andy

Hello Andrew.

This as worked really well and I can imagine the amount of uses this kind of image as.

Well seen and thought out.

Love it!! Doing my best to find any nits just because I think I can be very critical about your images. Your very critical about mine and I thank you for that. But of course I want my revenge and I found a dust bunny in the left down corner You're welcome.

Ed

Andrew,

The mush in this is spot on for me....I think because it is smooth throughout leading up to the Skua. I also like and appreciate the pastel tones of morning light...and the behaviour of the bird. Are there more dust spots (about 2-3) to the left of the breast on the bird or is this part of the background? Really pleased to see you posting on this forum again.

Ian

Hi Ed

Good man Ed, good man! That's what we like, one of many Achilles for me is my dust bunny issue, as Ian has also pointed out. I will try harder and I'll always look forward to any feedback that you offer on my images. Bring it on!

Andy

Ooohhh, I shall bring it on my friend.

Ed

Nearly missed this one - I think it is a fantastic image. The gradation of the foreground is perfect and it leads the eye up to the subject which is partly hidden, with just enough visible. Direct eye contact too. Print it big and hang it on a wall!

You are such a lazy ba£$%^D you don't even clone out dust bunnies

I like the mush and you must have been having a mush attack when you were taking this shot.

Danny

PS Just noticed that I have already commented on this one but I just love you so much.