Black Crowned Night Heron (Juvenile II)

[Miguel Palaviccini]

We have been seeing a lot of action from these night herons at the La Chua Trail (Gainesville, FL). I was very excited to capture this moment, but unfortunately I extremely underexposed the shot (by about 2 stops). I was able to pull out some of the detail, but the noise is noticeable, IMO. Either way, I loved the pose too much not to share.

Shooting Specs:
Nikon D800 | 500 f/4 VR +1.4x
700mm | 1/2000" | f/5.6 | ISO 1250 (should have been ISO 5000)

Processing:
- Added canvas to the left, removed from the right.
- Increased the exposure (+1.5), added some fill light, and changed white balance (removed magenta cast).
- Did my best to remove noise in PS while still keeping detail.
- Added contrast via curves.
- Cropped, resized, selective sharpened face.

Comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated!


<iframe width="468" height="60" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="http://mer54715.datafeedfile.com/widget/aff_widget_prdt_generate-2.0.php?aff_num=10536&aff_net=1&widget_num=1764"><p>Sorry your browser does not support iFrame</p></iframe>

[Miguel Palaviccini]

See below for the original to use as a reference. If anyone wants to give a crack at the RAW file, let me know and I will be happy to send it out.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Miguel, dont you wanna scream when you have the incorrect settings, and you have captured a great image. I do like the angled incoming pose showing the full wing spread. Your rescue has turnrd out well, and good idea going high key. Having said that, I do like the original BG too, and wonder if you could try a version inbetween, just enough to bring detail out in the juvi.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Thanks for the comments Stuart. I'll give that a shot. It was taken just before sunset, so the colors were warm and slightly pink. As you point out, maybe I should try a version that better reflects that. I'll try it out and repost later today. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent pose and you did a great job in PP Miguel.

[Arthur Morris]

Good save and self-critique. I too love the pose.

[John Cooper]

I think you did very well Miguel to recover such a good looking image from the original. Good effort.

[Satish Ranadive]

Beautiful incoming pose captured.Great pp work.Nice colors too.

Regards,
Satish.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

The pose rocks and I must say my jaw dropped when I saw the original. Nice save, I can't say it looks natural to me but I do like it