Great Blue Heron feeding

[Diane Miller]

This isn't even interesting by the standards here, but I need to start posting and see if I can improve my opportunities. Bodega Bay, up the coast from San Francisco. The bird was in a narrow channel at low tide, alongside a road, and there was no way to get down to its level without spooking it. We had some cover of vegetation up along the road.

Canon 5D Mk III, 600mm f/4 + 1.4x. Big Gitzo, Wimberley II. ISO 800, f/14 (to try to get enough DOF to compensate for a lot of movement by the hard-working bird), 1/800 sec. Full sun, early afternoon. (This area is shaded by dunes well before sunset.) Cropped to about halfway between full-frame and APS-C format. Initial processing in LR 4, very slight BG cleanup in PS 6.

Probably should have risked less DOF. The BG isn't pretty. But I watched and shot for over half an hour and got this angle only for a few frames. It mostly had its back to me.

C&C always appreciated.

[Randy Stout]

Diane:

Good self critique. Agree about the DOF, esp. when working in a cluttered environment. Keep your focus point on the eye as best you can, let the rest of the DOF play out as the overall position dictates, and try to get more visual separation from the shallower DOF>

Your exposure looks very good.

When you do have a chance to work the same subject for a while, it is a good practice to try and go through a number of different camera/lens setting variables to give yourself the most options. I tend to get stuck on my initial setup if it seems to be working well, and don't always explore the other options.

I make a mental note every time I go out - be flexible, try more settings. After all, how many identical shots of the same bird do I need?

Cheers

Randy

[Matthew Studebaker]

as usual - Randy said it well. glad to see you posting. keep them coming!

[Karl Egressy]

The bird looks nice, the sorrounding unfortunately is not the best. Excellent advices from Randy.

[Melissa Groo]

Height angle of you vs the bird not the best, but I think you did well despite that, Diane. Given how much the bird was turned away, you did well capturing it at a good angle towards you. Your exposure and sharpness are good. Your self-critique on depth of field is good. Looking foward to seeing more of your work.

[Marina Scarr]

Nice pose and love those neck feathers. The BG works well, and you wouldn't have been able to get the reflection with your angle. I could see a little more sharpening on your bird, especially on the bank and flank areas. Your image needs a little CW rotation. If you draw a straight line down from the tip of your bill, it should match up with the reflection and you'll notice it's a little.

Agree with everyone that experimentation is your friend.