I wanted to capture that peaceful moment, when the sun has just cleared the tree-tops and everything glows.
D500 / Sigma 100-300mm @ 210mm. ISO 2800. Manual exposure: 1/1000sec @ f/6.7. Group auto focus. Processed in Aperture.
Beautiful job on the Heron, Michael. I really like the lighting. Not knowing what other objects you had to contend with, I think raising the camera and zooming out a touch more might make for a more interesting composition. The partial reflection doesn’t really add anything and I think truncating it at the reflected “knees” would have given you a bit more room on top while zooming out a touch would give more room for the Heron to move into, especially since that looks like a walking pose. I love the reflected clouds.
A pleasant environment and nice atmosphere. A less tight crop would improve.
Thanks for your comments, Dennis.
The image I showed was virtually full-frame, so I had little scope for changing the composition.
However, I have tried your suggestions as far as possible, and removed the partial reflection.
What do you think?
Hi Michael. I like this better, though I don’t think you want to take quite that much room off the bottom. You want enough room for the hidden legs and feet. The colors in this are so awesome that I think it’s worth playing with a bit.
I like the light and mood of the image with the soft lighting on the water and the soft reflected clouds. Very nice. This is an image where the environment is as important as the subject and framing this tight didn’t add to the image for me. I took the original and did a couple quick things in PS to add canvas just to see what it might look like with significantly more room. Here’s the result. In your original and repost this is some odd cloning artifacts at the top of the stick in front of the bird that I’d re-visit from the original image.
Here is another frame, from the same shoot, which has more background and less foreground. Thanks for the comments.
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I like this frame much more than the original. Lovely habitat . This one also shows what happened to the top of the stick in front of the bird. I don’t see it as a detractor at all.
I like Keith Bauers crop, very nice side lighting…
The photo has a really nice early morning mood. Soft light and calm water with some cloud reflections all look good. Lots of good suggestions about composition. You were nice and close to the heron.
Hi Michael. I think the second frame you posted does a much better job of conveying the intent you mentioned in your description. It’s always tempting to fill the frame with your subject, but it’s not always the best way of communicating the feeling you want.
This is really the first time I have had comments on my photographs from people who knew what they were talking about. It has been an interesting and helpful experience, particularly since the suggestions were constructive, even if I didn’t agree with all of them. My last posting is an improvement on my first, which is the goal of good criticism. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. Michael
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