Photo was taken a week or so ago. It is a very similar looking bird to the Grey Heron photo that Jagdeep posted a day or so ago.
The GBH is taking a break and doing some cleaning and resting in a grassy salt water marsh.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
7DII, 700mm, f/6.3, 1/320, ISO 800. Photo is cropped to 80% of full size.
If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.
Hi David
You have a nice looking Big Blue. The detail, coloring, eye contact and background are vary nice. The only I could add to this photo is a little more room on the left hand side of the frame. (there probably was any more room) Nice work.
Peter
I like the environment you found the heron in with the nice perch and grassy surroundings. Good detail and pose with the right claws showing. Depending on what’s available I could see more room on the left as well.
Pleasant pose and environment. Good job on the detail. If I were going to do anything with this image I might consider darkening the wood perch a tad more closely match that of the heron.
Thanks everyone for your comments. I had toned down the perch as much as I could. I got to the point where it just started to look muddy and photoshopped so I backed off a bit and left it. I will also have a look at it with a bit more room on left. Now that you mention it it may be a bit tight.
A fine Great Blue Heron image, David. The exposure is perfect to keep that bleached branch from getting out of hand. I like the way the perch divides the frame , yet doesn’t seem to crowd the heron unduly. Nicely done.
Fine image of this GBH. The pose is really nice and the stuff on his beak adds to the image. I agree on the perch brightness and noted your comment on trying to tone it down. Don’t know what techniques you used. I did a little soft light burning, and a curves adjustment layer in Multiply Blend mode both at relatively low opacities and came up with this.
That looks much better Keith. I’ll take a moment to see how those tools work. I used the burn tool at a fairly low exposure level.
Dennis is right. These pieces of driftwood get completely washed out and bleached from exposure to salt water and then the open environment.
The bit on the end of the beak is feather fluff as the heron was getting cleaned up and relaxing after a morning hunt.
