Painted Stork Juvenile - C&C Welcome

[fotugraphy]

Hi, going forward on my photography venture I stopped and clicked another shot. Can you please review it and let me know what exactly is missing for it to make it much better?

Few weeks back i did some birding with my friends. During the photoshoot i found these Painted Stork Juvenile were close enough to each other and search for fish in the water. I like the way they were search next to each other hiding other's head giving an illusion of joined necks

With the post processing I have emphasized more of the legs, beak and textures of the feather by adding some surrealism in the scene.

I'm not able to make out which crop should i opt for? Please provide your views and suggestion with composition, frame, crops and processing. I havnt added vignette in the image bcoz I was not sure of the crop, but i will add it once i get a crop suggestion.

Thank You

PS : Please click on the image for lightbox screen view (Highly recommended)

#1 Cropped Version


#2 Uncropped : Please feel free to use the image for the crop suggestions

[Geoff F]

Not sure what sort of effect you were after here but the legs and beaks seem to have something of a neon sign colouration.

I would agree with a slight crop but for me, you have gone a little too tight with your edit.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Raj IMO there aren't many crop options for this image and your centered crop works for me, you can always go for a wider crop but IMO the main issue in the image is the distracting tree at the BG. If you are after an artisitc look may be you should try some different effects to eliminate the tree.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, both versions work for me.

[IzzieK]

Hi Raj...is that the real colour of its legs? I like the one-headed capture you did here...the beaks seems to be neon-like. Did you purposely did this effect? Overall, I like the composition and the sharpness of the feathers. As for cropping, I like the first one though as you showed in the second image, there are a lot more options for any more crops.

[bnnrcn]

Hi again Raj, I used one of the filters in CEP4 to hide the BG and to go for an artistic look. I'm uploading it just to give you an idea. I can always remove the image if you don't like it , just let me know

PS. There are still some small bright parts in the BG , but they can be cloned anyway.

[bnnrcn]

Or may be a B&W

[chauncey]

Like the basic image but am unsure about your surrealism PP.
Were they to rise sharing the same fish...that would have been interesting.

[fotugraphy]

Thank you everyone for your kind review and suggestions. I have reworked on the image in black and white. Raising a fresh post for it as i have discarded this colored version.

Please check this thread for the black and white version.
Painted Stork Juvenile (Reprocessed and Reposted) - C&C Welcome

[fotugraphy]

Like the basic image but am unsure about your surrealism PP.
Were they to rise sharing the same fish...that would have been interesting.

yes they were searching for the same fish lol.