Black-crested Night Heron

[Bob Smith]

148651

I was just finishing an evening walk through the Reifel Refuge, a federal waterfowl refuge on Westham Is. near my home, when a glance through the trees at some passing mallards revealed this little fellow. He was amazingly co-operative in letting me approach & manoeuvre around him to try and get some shots without branches crossing his face. I've never seen one before, as they are quite rare around here, but apparently a small flock of about 6 winter on Westham. The sun had set on an overcast day .
5D MIII, EF 400 f/4 DO IS,ISO 6400,0ev,f/5.6,1/180,crop to about 80% orig. size,manual,pattern,autoBF,post in Aperture.

[Raybel Robles]

Hi Bob,

I like the that the bird is sharp and the feather details is good. But theres a few things here that hurts the image. Theres a lot of distracting OOF branches infront of the bird, a considerable amount of noise due to the high ISO, the crop is a bit too tight I think, you can tell the tail of the bird has been cropped and the last problem which it is the easier to fix, there's a slight blue cast. TFS and better luck next time.

[Grace Scalzo]

Bob, Several years ago, I was walking along a local park and had the same situation as this....a close up opportunity with a Black-crowned night heron. Sadly, the situation was the same as here...a clutterred background with no way to get a pleasing image. You created a nice record shot here which will help you remember the encounter. I would go back a few more times and see if you can't find him in a better background and with more light to work with.

[Diane Miller]

A tighter crop from the bottom and sides would reduce the distractions a little. I don't mind the cluttered BG behind him. The blue is dramatic and interesting but I'm not sure that I wouldn't reduce it a little.

[Bob Smith]

Thanks for the input and encouragement everyone. I will, of course, be keeping an eye out for opportunities to catch these fellows out in the open and in better light. I like your crop Dianne and can see how it does reduce the visual impact of the branches surrounding. My post has not had any crop at the bottom, just top and sides----I was leaning way out over platform railing to get that shot and just couldn't get myself twisted far enough down to get any lower on the bird. I know you're right about the light Grace--I have to break a silly habit of mine of going out late on cloudy days.

[Grace Scalzo]

Bob, you and me both! It never hurts to take some record shots. I keep a few in my files just to remind myself of what I saw, where and on what date.