day 6. feb 08 slice of life. panorama
by roz

Comment:
Roz, This looks like a serious storm coming in. That's a pretty place that you found, and I like it as a panorama. Nice job!

Letters Home
by Germaine

Comment:
What a warm and lovely candid : )

Day 16 - Watching TV.jpg
by Monicagd

Comment:
This is nice! The little highlights make up for all that's missing in the low key darkness. Excellent candid composition and capture.

Cronton View
by WendyWoo

Comment:
This sunset is beautiful to me. I like the layering and gradient in both the ground and the sky. The haze looks good, and adds to the sense of great distance to the horizon. There are a lot of details to see, and that also makes the countryside look bigger and wide open, which I like a lot. The tree framing the sun is good, and the larger one matching the sweep of the clouds is very good too.
It's just right.

Sunset Over Cronton
by WendyWoo

Comment:
You didn't post the settings used for this shot. I see that it is shot at longer focal length than the "Cronton View" image. If the wind is not blowing, I use a small aperture, about f11, and low ISO if I have a tripod. This helps with keeping all the elements from foreground to background sharper, and the low ISO helps with the noise in the shadow areas.
I also usually wait for the sun to get below the horizon, or put it behind something to keep it from being too bright in the image. Some sunsets look best in photos as long as 20 minutes or so after the sun disappears. In processing I use shadows / highlights and color temp/ tint adjustments to try to make the colors suit me.
I like your "Cronton View" image because it's a wider shot, and it keeps a little of the blue in the sky to color contrast with the orange.
Have a look at the available settings with your camera, and see if there are some that will enhance this kind of shot, in particular, if there is a cloudy day setting, it may make colors stronger.

hutch.jpg
by hyperfocal

Comment:
Cool facial expression : )

Oh to soar!
by smurfguy

Comment:
I thought this was a darn good shot. I knew that it would get hammered in voting and DNMC's but it is because it isn't a literal photo of a bird. Thumbs up for you for running with your take on the challenge theme. : )

Still beat my eggs with the old wire whisk
by IreneM

Comment:
Great idea, and the image is even better in lighting and composition. Congrats to you for this one.

Northern Cardinal
by timfythetoo

Comment:
Congrats Tim on an excellent score and fine shot.

White Balance
by yakatme

Comment:
I didn't vote, but did look thru the images for this challenge. I suspected that this was one of your Anhinga Trail shots, because I could see that you were close when you got the shot from the perspective, and I know that the egrets are in mating plumage at this time.
It's appropriate that it's mid winter, and the bird that you chose is a snowy egret. It's about as close to snow as we get down here LOL.
This is the "plume bird" that was hunted to near extinction for feathers for ladies hats last century, but they are getting more common now. I have seen flocks of over 50 of them in the 'Glades.
Big congrats on the blue. Go Nikon!