Fly Away From Here

I like the motion you’ve captured here. The shutter was fast enough to freeze most of the bird, but just slow enough to get some movement in the wings.

A landscape aspect was a good choice for the shot, there is plenty of space around the bird. You have a nice bit of reflection in the water too.

The depth of field works well to isolate the subject from the background. The area behind the bird helps to add to that feeling of motion.

I think it needed a little bit more light on the head, it is just a bit dark and more light would have helped bring out a catch light in the eye.

I really think that the bird should have been on the other side of the frame though. Our brains are wired to look at face and eyes (which is why you always see faces in things like clouds), so in a photo you are first drawn into to the eye. You then follow the gaze of the animal, it works a bit like an invisible lead line. So here, you are drawn to the eye of the bird and then along its gaze and out of the left frame edge. That leaves the whole right side completely un-viewed. If you had placed the bird over on the right edge, your eye would have been lead across the picture and it would feel more complete and not cramped into one half.