Richard, the bird is very charismatic, extremely sharp and detailed, with the wings in an excellent position and lots of detail in the feathers. It's a very difficult exposure in this light, so it's OK that the whites are slightly lost and the black detail hard to see.

Your processing is very evident here, with the bright BG still very easily seen between the wing feathers. Even without that, the green is a strange color and the trees just look weird. If I were judging this in competition, it would receive a low score for excess processing.

I believe you are better off starting over, processing in CR or LR to optimize the BG, then select the bird and bring it up. You can eliminate troublesome bits of BG by using the "Select>>Color Range" as there is no green in the bird. Just be careful not to make your processing so apparent, if you are planning to enter exhibitions.

Lillian   Posted: 06/13/2026 17:37:14

Excellent shutter speed - the wings are crisp with no motion blur. However I would say a bit more microcontrast on the feathers could enhance texture. Also if shot at a slightly wider aperture, the background could melt even more, isolating the subject further. Some of the midtone foliage competes slightly with the bird's white body; selective darkening would help. Sometimes , a subtle vignette could draw more attention to the vulture's head. Nice Image . Overall, careful refined tonal work will greatly enhance the image.   Posted: 06/15/2026 13:03:06