In this case, waiting for it to go out. This Great Blue Heron flew in while David Schoen and I were out on the boardwalk at Nisqually NWR last Friday. The lower clouds were quite thin and there was enough sunlight sneaking through them to add a glow to the water and I liked the scene.
I’m unsure about the treatment of the heron, which I kept very minimal.
Does this work as a birdscape?
Dennis, I like the shot, the sand bar, the ripples coming from the legs. But the water seems to lack detail. What would happen if you selected the bird, inverted the selection so the bird is not effected, and then clipped the left side of the histogram back to say 130 or so. That gives the water much more detail and enhances the bird even though it is not selected. Almost looks like a fill flash was used then.
Just my opinion and I wasn’t there to see what you saw when you say you saw a glow to the water. So I may be way off in my thinking.
Dennis, I posted almost the identical image several days ago with some adjustment on the water color in the weekly challenge gallery. These two images are so close in their composition. I am assuming we were standing right next to each other when we took them.
I like this shot. Very serene feel to it. I always have difficulty deciding on these types of shots how much detail to show of the subject but I think you’ve done a good job with it.
Interesting differences in interpretation of the same scene, David. I think we were alternating places about that time, so we probably shot these from within a five foot radius of one another. I like the lower key, saturated interpretation you posted.
Here’s a reinterpretation of the scene, taking some of Greg’s advice and looking at David’s interpretation of the same scene. I dropped the highlights in the background quite a bit, used Topaz detail to bring out the detail in the water and increased the exposure on the Heron a bit. Note: I tried Greg’s solution directly, but it seemed too much for the water. It was pretty bright and I wanted to convey that.
By the way, I forgot the technical details in the first post, so here they are:
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 403 mm, f/8 1/2500, iso 2000, Manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped a bit from the right and both top and bottom.
Dennis: this is a tough one to process because of the extremes in tonality. I think though that a darkening of the very bright water and brightening the bird a bit would add more contrast while preserving the glow in the water. Richard
PS just saw your re-do which is a good improvement.
Sometimes just a little change is better than a lot as seen in the bird. Plus, It always helps to have been there !
Nice photo.
