The Eye of the Heron

[William Dickson]

Canon 1DX
f/4 500mm with 1.4
f/9
1/800
ISO 2000

I was sitting in my hide on the loch side yesterday afternoon when this Grey Heron flew in and perched real close in front of me. I was at my limit for focusing as the bird was so near. I thought about removing my TC, but the Heron would probably see the movement through the cam net, so decided to leave it on. I very slowly aimed at the bird, changed my camera settings, and managed a few shots before he flew off. There was a branch between me and the rear of the Herons head, so decided to go for this crop. It's the nearest I have been to a Grey Heron, as they usually fly off on first sight of a human.

Will

[Geoffrey Montagu]

WOW! This is a very fine close cropped image, William. The light is exceptionally good for all the feather, eye, and beak detail. It's so good that I might be tempted to do some selective NR on the shaded feather areas. The sharp detail in and around the eye, for that matter the entire image, keeps me coming back to it. Like the BG color too. Well done!

Geoffrey

[Daniel Cadieux]

How cool an opportunity was that! Fantastic feather detail - you should have kept it for next month's theme! I also like the texture on the eye's iris. I'm mostly OK with the really tight crop with half the bill cut off - perhaps pointing your lens an inch or so more to your right would have been good, to put the eye a bit further back in the frame. I do wish the bill was in better shape though as it is peeling away a layer, but this was an extraordinary surprise event in which you can't pick and choose the "best" looking individual. A fun study in heron face details!

[Joseph Przybyla]

This is feather detail, as Daniel wrote it would have been great for next month's theme. I have been close to these birds but I do not think ever this close. Very similar to the Great Blue Heron here. Thank you for sharing, Will.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated :S3: