The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The Reddish Egret´s hunting technique is fun to watch. The most animated of the Egret/Heron family, when chasing fish, they run, hop, fly and flare thier wings. Great fun to watch. I was lucky to catch this one on a calm day and the reflection chose this picture for for me.
Specific Feedback
I cropped to show the motion and direction of where he was going. Would it be more visually pleasing moving him more to the left? He had ran from left to right and made a sharp U-turn, thus the trail in the foreground, so in my mind it was natural to leave it in the picture, but is it too distracting? I want to improve in all aspects, so all critics appreciated. Thanks.
Technical Details
Shot hand held with Canon 6D Mark II body, 100-400 with +1.4 extender. Shutter priority at 1/1000 f/8.0. Focal length 560, focus distance 56.10 m Center weighted average at 9:02 am with sunlight
These are really fun birds to watch Carl. I love the action, and especially the wingspread. I understand that may actually cut down the glare through the water as they hunt.
Reddish egrets hunting are always a treat, Carl. The trail in the foreground doesn’t really come across as such without the verbal explanation, Carl, so I’d be tempted to crop a bit tighter to show off the bird more. I’m fine with the trail behind the bird as it’s more obvious where it came from. Given the bird’s downward focus of attention, I think you can break the old rule of thirds horizontally on this one without it looking odd and take a touch off the left to balance cropping up from the bottom.
Yes, the reflection makes this shot Carl. I just saw my first one on a recent trip to Ft. Myers FL. Nice details in the feathers and a sharp eye. I would agree with @Dennis_Plank on the cropping; could almost use a square format but I’d have to try it first . Overall nice job showing this bird’s behavior.
Hi Carl, yes these birds are so fun to watch on the hunt - really fascinating. We get to see them when we visit Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island. Cropping in more if you have the pixels would be another good version of this image. I do find the story interesting of the bubble trail at bottom knowing how these birds like to dance around.
All I did was drag the highlights over to where the information in the file began and slightly down. I also pulled the darker areas down a bit. Crop as you see fit. Hope this helps. Cheers!
I appreciate the information, i am not very well versed in reading the histogram, I edit by eye using the very basic slides (I use LR Classic). I need to do a deep dive on learning more about what a histogram can tell me! Again thanks for taking your time to help others.
