April Snowy Egret

[Ken Janes]

The Snowy Egrets arrived back in Maine this week. I find I am having better luck exposing whites on cloudy days. I decided to not clean up the bill but maybe should have.

Canon 7D 400mm f/5.6 On a tripod with shutter release
1/1600 sec at f/8 ISO 400

Crop and adjustments in LR 4. Eye sharpened just a little.

Comments appreciated.

Ken

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Ken , I find the feathers on the beak pleasing on this one ,(But not on all photos ) it adds more environment feel . only complaint ,is the Bg ( on this laptop) looks a bit grainy"Noisy" and a round of de-noise or blur may remove that distraction . All in all a splendid photograph .

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Ken,

This picture has a good feel and the light looks nice. I agree with Clyde on the noise and the nice feather detail might be a tad hot did you clip a few on the histogram,...maybe 1/3 faster shutter. The other opportunity is subject placement, consider some off the top and adding a bit of canvas on the bottom for the feet - maybe the feet are alright - lets see what others say. I like the bill and the natural habitat, might be a bit tight all around,..maybe a bit more room to breath. On balance, this is a solid photograph and a great day with nature.

[John Chardine]

Got it in one Ken. Cloudy days are your friend. The bare sun is the enemy! This image has a beautiful, rich feel to it. I do see some noise in the BG but not until Clyde mentioned it. My eye was drawn to the bird, the amazing texture of the feathers, and the straw. I second not cleaning up the bill. The feathers are totally natural and should be there. Well done on this one.

[PhilCook]

With a selective noise reduction to the backdrop I think this would extra good....nice natural habitat shot, I do like the richness in color of the grasses and the white bird is exposed well, plus raised foot is a nice touch....well done I feel

[Wendy Kates]

I, too, like the richness of the grasses as a backdrop to the bird. The feathers are very sharp. I would like a little more canvas on the right side of the image, but that would place the egret more in the center of the image, which I realize is a no-no! Still, I would prefer it. Really nice image.