The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This great blue heron was quietly watching the sunrise on a cold January morning a few years back at Bolsa Chica Preserve in Huntington Beach, CA. You can see some of the morning colors reflected in it’s face.
Specific Feedback
Busy BG too much? Crop and composition? Thanks for any comments or suggestions. They are welcomed and appreciated.
Technical Details
Canon 60D, f5.6, 1/160 sec, iso 640, 100-400 at 400 mm.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Hi Ed,
Nice light on the front of the heron and I like the fancy “hairdo”. Good details and great to see the eye so well. He looks like he is really chilling out. The BG shows his habitat and he contrasts well with it to stand out for us. Crop looks good to me.
Nice light here and the colors are subtle, yet radiant. Fantastic aspect in the plumage, too. It’s so amazing how birds can manipulate their skins to control feathers so precisely. Excellent environmental shot - the live on the edges of things so much of the time.
Like the other shot of the heron with the fish, I wish you could get lower. It isn’t always possible, but it always helps with animal photos for us to be more on their level than ours. Even in the kayak which is barely above the water surface, I will lean over or hold the camera lower and use the swivel screen to compose. Engagement is key with these guys so not only having a direct look or being able to see the eye, being at the persepctive of our subjects will serve to maximize it.
The light is wonderful in this image, Ed, and as others have mentioned the hairdo makes it extra special. The way the light catches the eye is also very nice and something that doesn’t happen often. I agree with Kris that a lower perspective would have been nice, but this would certainly go in my keeper files.
