I'm surprised Doug didn't get here before me this time, Tigs. He always scolds me, with good reason, for centering certain subjects. He even drove all the way from Canada to Atascadero to slap me around because I goofed up on one too many compositional aspects. That guy is one tough mother.
Anyway, my point is that you'd get even more motion out of this shot if you quadruple the size of the area in front of the heron. Good luck in the motion contest. It's a sure fire winner.
The reason why the sun sets in the evening is because it wants to see the sunrise in the morning. I rise in the morning because I want to see them both. RvdB
Wow the detail colours and composition in this photo is stunning and love the soft ripples that run through the water too.Also the light and shade is very nicely balanced to in this photo as well.10/10
Your reaction time was very good Sandi. The image is great with clear details on the heron. There is no question of composing in such a shot when you have to hurry.
It's a spectacular shot, Sandi, but Roger is right about not enough space in the direction of flight...and if you didn't get any more than is showing, you should have cropped right to the toes, with just enough space to see a thin slice of blue. The balance will be improved as the bulk of the body will be right of center. Another thing you can do is copy and past the current image onto a larger size black or white matte board in PhotoFiltre, and then clone another inch or two of water onto the matte along the left border. Then crop out and Save the extended image.
My thanks to all who leave comments for my work and to those of you who like one enough to make it a favourite. To touch just one person that way makes each image worthwhile. . . . . . . . . .. . . . "The question is not what you look at, but what you see" ~ Marcel Proust