Nankeen Night Heron portrait

[PhilCook]

Becoming hard to find now sadly, we have a disturbing wildlife imbalance here every Summer when thousands of screaming Short-beaked Corellas take over the local area and drive the other birds, and home owners out. The trees these birds used to nest in are now destroyed by the Corella invasion, so I think the days of seeing these in my region are nearly over.

This one came down briefly on dusk to look for food along the river, and as luck, or bad luck would have it he was much too close to get him all in the frame with the 500 f4.

Canon 7D + 500 f4......f5, 1/1600, ISO 400, no flash fired, ....added some canvas top and right, about 20%....selective sharpen and noise reduction

[Marina Scarr]

What a terrific portrait with simply amazing details and colors. DOF is spot on. Plumage is superb. Wish bird's face were parallel to the sensor...so close but not quite.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Phil, great close up, and well exposed - the colours look spot on. I do like the detail around the eye and bill.

[Diane Miller]

Beautiful portrait -- I'd say you did well to be so close, to show off the detail in a portrait.

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!!
Simply beautiful.
Excellent feather detail, lovely soft light, and wonderful background.
Excellent shot.

[David Salem]

Very nice Phil. Great job on this one with beautiful feather detail and colors. Nice light on the subject and a clean smooth BG. Good job to get so close to the bird.

[PhilCook]

Thanks folks, sometime you just get lucky

[gail bisson]

Hi Phil,
This is excellent.
Love the feather detail and IQ.
Good job on the canvas extension.
Too bad about the corellas,
Gail

[jack williamson]

Awesome detail and exposure, canvas extension very well done.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

I like this Phil. Very nice image.

[Nick Palmieri]

As mentioned, the detail in the bird is very nice. Very nice portrait!

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Phil,

This is a great portrait. I really like how you were able to convey the softness of the bird, but still keep amazing detail.

Miguel

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the detail, sharpness, exposure and light. Nice close up Phil!

[Melissa Groo]

This is gorgeous Phil. Beautiful detail and IQ. Love those plumes which stand out so nicely against the dark part of the background. Sad, the story you tell.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent portrait shot, Phil. The details are great, what you lost by the closeness, you gained back by fine the details.

[Shawn Zierman]

Excellent portrait of this handsome heron. The plumage is very pretty. Exposure work is solid.
Sharpness looks spot on. Nice job on the canvas extension up top.

[PhilCook]

Thanks again people....they are lovely birds that lend themselves well to photography

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details, a great shot.