Green Heron

[Allen Sparks]

Canon 1D4, 400mm f4 DO, 1.4x TC II, monopod
ISO 800, f6.3, 1/1000s

[John Robinson]

Hi Allen
You may have summised that I am not keen on reflections.! Its a long story. You have to include them all or none at all in my humble opinion. Including them all means the main subject matter will be smaller in the frame- hence less detail. One of my reasons in a nut shell.
With my bathing shots the water movement breaks the reflections up and I can live with that. However , with yourshot the reflection is subdued and does not grab my eye as much as the main bird.
Am I explaining myself ??
I like it anyway. The site looks natural and thats one of the main things in my humble opinion.Next time chuck a stone in before you take the pic !!(Joking !!) Others will love it. Each to their own
Great pic anyway.Whatever
Cheers
John

[John Robinson]

Sorry
Can't delete repeat post
John

[Steve Canuel]

Nice to see good shots with this combo (I use it too.) Nice subject, pose, and reflection (together with the bird it provides a nice focus point for the image, the intended target whatever it may be.) May or may not be worth trying for your taste, but for a touch more contrast/detail, try a USM setting of 25/3/0. Also helps if you decide to add a tiny touch of sharpening afterwards.

[Joe Galkowski]

Allen,

Beautiful bird and image.

Were it mine, and I wish it was, I would consider darkening the two large rocks on the right side of the frame. A little burn tool use, subtle, so as not to be obvious. I might also look at lightening the eye-area of the face just a touch. I always am bothered when the reflection looks more exposed than the bird. This might be just me though. Then, if you were really looking for minor points: there is an arc starting at the top of the frame and passing through the bill and continuing to the mid-ground rock under the heron's eye, perhaps it is an out-of-focus stick. I would clone that out.

Nice work, I am envious, I would have loved to have been there.

Joe

[WIlliam Maroldo]

I like the reflection, and the image as a whole. Needs an approx. 3 degree CCW rotation (reflections never lie). regards~Bill

[Gabriela Plesea]

Beautiful capture, Allen!

Love to see so much of the environment here - makes me reflect upon the role of water in its many forms (as we so often seek to include it in our images), there's something quite magical about it as it transforms an ordinary scene into something special.
I am quite taken with the bird here and the pose - so focused in its pursuit of prey that he has not taken notice of the photographer, the leg raised as if he is about to dive in!

Good advice from Steve and Joe in terms of PP work, I feel you can get even more out of this image. Well done, I certainly seek to view more of your posts in the future:w3

Kind regards, have a great Sunday,

[Pamela de Zilva]

Nice capture Allen. I find the bird and the water a bit too saturated.

Regards
Pamela

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the pose and reflection, bird could be sharper and the BG is quite busy/distracting

TFS

[Binu John]

Beautiful shot! I like the composition, pose and refection!

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the shot the pose and reflection are super. The head and bill look a little less sharp than the neck and flank.