Spoonies

I photographed these roseate spoonbills in Tampa Bay, Florida. The original sky was bland, so I replaced it with a semi-bland sky but with a certain amount of definition. I feel this added dimension and interest to the image. My camera settings were 1/4000, f/2.8, and 250 ISO. I shot this with a 70-200mm lens because the birds were fairly close, and I took this from a boat. Sometimes I see photographers using tripods in boats, but that never made sense to me unless a person simply can't handle the weight of the camera and lens. When I shoot birds in flight, I never use a tripod even when standing on the ground because I prefer the flexibility of movement to follow-focus on a flying bird.