[Pat]

OK, pick it to pieces :/

[matthew]

I think you're on to something here.

From a critical viewing, I'd say that there's either too much sky, or too much sand. You can cheat by cropping at the bottom, where the channel runs parallel to the edge, if you want to highlight those great clouds. If you want the channel to be the focus, then I'd suggest cropping out the top cloud bank.

Really, though, those are just cheats to bring a single centre of interest to the image. I see a lot of good and interesting things here, including the leading lines to the birds, the detail in the stream, the surf and headlands, and the clouds. Any one of these could be the subject for a picture. Any two of them can make it special. With all four, I'm left wondering what I should be looking at.

Big caveat: small images "read" differently than large ones. This photo, printed large and viewed in parts, may hold up better than the small jpeg does.

(...and the horizon's not level.)

[Don Schaeffer]

The channel itself is an interresting abstract. Your photo has good contrast that really brings it out. The ocean itself seems mundane by comparison. Ocean pictures are too many! I would crop at the hoizon line or just below it.

[EnglishBob]

My only critique is that your picture is split across the center line, like matthew suggested I would lose and inch or two of sky to throw the horizon onto the 33% line.

[shuttertalk]

I 2nd what Craig said, although don't loose too much of the sky - I like the wispy clouds and also the hills on the horizon.

The patterns in the sand are fantastic.

[Pat]

Thanks for your comments, was undecided whether to crop the clouds or the channel, think a little less of the clouds would be better.