Great Egret

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

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Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I went to a National Wildlife Refuge fairly close by this past Wednesday and stopped to photograph this egret in one of the channels. It ended up taking off, doing a flyby and landing in the road about 30 feet in front of me. It wouldn’t move until I was squeezing past it.

Specific Feedback

The water was pretty ugly as it usually is this time of year so I spent some time on cleanup. Too much? Not enough?

Technical Details

Sony A1, FE 200-600 +1.4 TC @ 602 mm, hand held from car, f/9, 1/1250, iso 3200, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Added a touch of canvas to the bottom for balance. Taken November 8th at 10:49AM under mostly overcast skies.

2

An elegant looking take off shot. The water looks fine, especially with the colorful reflection. The egret stands out nicely from the background.

3

Hello, Dennis, nice action shot of this egret. Funny thing is that I didn’t notice anything about the water until I read your text. Which makes me now wonder if the darkish patches are ‘dirt’ or remainders of cleaning up :wink: . I’d say as didn’t notice anything at first glance you did well ! Cheers, Hans

4

Hi Dennis
This does have that dreamy Great Egret take off look. In a perfect world, it would be nice to have more detail in the back wing, but that is only in a perfect world.
Peter

5

Nice pose you captured Dennis and I like the surroundings. Nice wing position. The head of the bird looks just a tad soft to me.

6

Very nice wing position and classic flight pose of this species Dennis! I am fine with the water. Think you did a good job with it. The head does appear to be a tiny bit soft to my eyes as well. Maybe another round of sharpening would cure it?