SOOC versus post-processed

Many times the image that you envision can be captured and presented SOOC (straight out of the camera) but sometimes post-processing can improve it and create what your mind's eye saw when you clicked the shutter.

This bird (a short billed dowitcher) was taken in NH, in the field across from Polly's Pancake Parlor. The bird was facing the wrong way and I only had a 300 mm lens on. So I knew when I took the image that I would crop it and flip it...

SOOC, above, and post-processed, below