Thank you Russ. Yeah - that contrast with the feathers was a real killer. I was just so darned happy to get the splash!
I can totally see your point about stopping it down, and, in fact, the original capture was much darker - I increased the exposure in Photoshop RAW, because I'd actually lost detail in the wings, and underneath. I really tried not to overexpose the white, but this was a hard one. Now, maybe you can tell me... if I'd stopped it down further, would not the splash have blurred more? I'm still really trying to learn here, and for some reason, that whole higher fstop number, smaller the opening thing really messes with me, sometimes!
This one also probably had a polarizer on it, also, which makes my brain a little more muddled (the water tended to be pretty shiny that day). I'm not good at recording details about my shots, so I'm not totally certain I had it on.
And, for the vignette - unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the shot), my lens seems to add vignette to many of my shots at more open apertures, at certain focal distances. I'm not certain how to avoid it - but I believe it's exacerbated by the circular polarizer, as well. In this image, I liked it, so I didn't try to correct it in post processing.
This input is great - I'm SO GLAD I can finally post stuff!
Thanks!