A Patient Heron

[Jim Keener]

Greetings. I took many photographs of this one. And the bird stayed right there. Paying more attention to the hunt than the photographer.

141705

Details: Shot at the Salton Sea in February 2014.

- Canon 1DX
- Canon 500 f/4
- 1/4000, f/4, ISO 400

Cropped 50%, modified white balance, camera calibration, exposure, contrast, and vibrance in Lightroom. Sharpened in Photoshop.

I'm eager to learn and to get the critiques I've grown to value.

Walk well.

[Carolyn Arnesen]

Nice composition, Jim. I like the bird's pose, intent stare, and position in the frame. The bird looks sharp, but I wouldn't mind seeing more detail. I find that some of the darker areas compete for attention.

[Anil Skumar]

Jim ,

You can clone out white and black blobs to clean it further.

Ground on which bird is standing is making an interesting pattern (half circle shaped). Would be interested to see - if you have picture with same pose but with more depth of field.

Nice picture overall.

[Diane Miller]

Nice find -- I love it when they model for you! Good advice about cloning. I wonder if you could have brought out more shadow detail in LR, with the Shadows slider? You do have a nice, realistic contrast and you don't want to flatten it. Pulling Blacks back to just the edge, and a touch of Clarity will often help, when the contrast gets too flat.

[Vijayashankara Nanjegowda]

That is very true, one has to learn patience from this bird!!

[Luis Patacao]

Nice composition, Jim. I like the bird's pose, intent stare, and position in the frame. The bird looks sharp, but I wouldn't mind seeing more detail. I find that some of the darker areas compete for attention.

Agree with Carolyn. The darker areas in BG hurt a bit the image.

[Jim Keener]

You are all most helpful and encouraging, and I've been eager to get back to this. And I'll start today and post updates. Thank you for the guidance.

[Jim Keener]

142030

I tried to incorporate all the recommended changes. I brightened the shadows, and pulled back the blacks in LR, then to PS where I used the clone tool to remove some of the more contrasty areas on the beach in the background. And then used the adjustment curve to enhance contrast. Sharpened in PS.

I'm sorry, Anil. All the photographs I took of this bird were at f/4. I like the idea though and will keep that kind of thing in mind in the future. I'm eager for your next ideas and grateful from what I've read so far.

[Diane Miller]

Much better, Jim! But I liked the original crop, leaving room for the bird to look into.

[Jim Keener]

Thanks, Diane. Me too.

[Arthur Morris]

Repost is OK with image quality fading fast :) I like the original of this young bird. It is sharp and well exposed and I like the basic image design. Had you gone a bit wider you could have included all of the 2nd dark bird in the water that is currently cut by the right frame edge and given the 2nd gull a bit more room. I like the curve of the shoreline.

Thanks a stack for your membership support.

[Jim Keener]

Thanks for the comment, Artie. And especially for the BAA site and forums.

[Arthur Morris]

Many thanks Jim for your kind words. I am glad that you are enjoying the blog.