Peter,
EXIF data would really help.
That aside, you've done an excellent job of capturing the heron with a nice pose, excellent detail, realistic color.
Improvements: Would be nice if you had more room on the left that he is flying into. Bird is too centered and you would generally want it entering, not almost leaving the frame. I think the DOF is appropriate. Unfortunately, with the rock so close to the wings, it becomes a bit more distracting than ideal.
Overall, very good capture, some tweaks needed.
Scott G
As a personal preference, I would lose the drop shadow and frame. They're a little distracting and the bandwidth would be better used in showing the picture a little bit larger. If it needs something around it, I would just do a white or black frame with no detailing.
I like the idea of seeing both the bird and the water splashing in the background, but as it is they compete with each other because they overlap so much. It might be nice if the bird was a little off-center, maybe to the right so that you can see it and the splash action.
This is awesome! Not that I am qualified to comment, but I think the bolder on the left is too distracting to the subject (heron). However I am not sure you can really do anything about that, unless maybe you want to go back and take a shot of the water during the same time of day with the same lighting. Crop out the heron and carefully place it in the new background lol.
