I kind of get if what you are trying in this image, Raghu. Inclusion of foreground and slightly out of focus birds and the grass in the background. IMHO I feel the tonal management could've been better to guide the viewer. Especially the foreground looks too dark. I know that you've been exploring monochrome conversions, all can say is keep experimenting. TFS

Regards,
Prashanth

Wonderfully made!, Raghu. Maybe the bottom dark helps to make them softer!?

It is a beautiful picture, both for the birds, but also for the water and for the fine tuned background.
The black part although, it feels too hard and brutal. If you could tune this up a bit?! The lowest part which is only black, it does not give anything to the picture at all. Why not re-size the picture to a 5 x 4 format, or maybe even to a square?!

Thanks a lot guys for the valuable suggestions!
Agree that the bottom part of the picture brings in no real value. I haven’t processed this picture much.

Love the soft treatment here, Raghu.