Egret

[Glenn Pure]

172053
This is most likely a Great Egret but hard to be sure from this distance. Photographed in failing late light on Lake Curalo in southern coastal New South Wales. I had originally planned to post this in monochrome but I think this version is a little more interesting as it is so close to monochrome anyway. I've taken a bit off the bottom and right of the frame for this crop (bird originally centred).

Thanks for looking. All comments and critiques greatly appreciated.

Capture details: Canon 80D with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/30 sec, f7.1, ISO 1250. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements with Neat Image NR plugin. Very light NR applied to bird and stronger NR to background. Main subject only sharpened in PSE (Sharpness tool, remove Gaussian blur) after final size reduction.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I like the feel of the image. I think you captured it well. I wish the bird is little bit more closer to the edge.

Nice capture thanks for sharing.

[Juan Tolentino]

I like the overall looking of the image and the composition. Yes, is a Great Egret. Thank you for sharing.

[Colin Driscoll]

Nice shot in that context. Being fastidious i would clone out the couple of white feathers at the water edge.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very unusual I think it's great! I really like the subdued colours.

[William Dickson]

Very nice Glenn. I really like the details you have captured throughout the image. The trees, reeds then the water, looks so good and natural. The reflections from the bird and reeds takes it up a few notches. I also like your crop. The white bird stands out well against the colours of the BG and FG. Lovely frame, well done mate.

Will

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Glenn, nice image. I like the depth in the image. The foreground water with the reflection, then what appear to be Rushes, and finally the tall trees all working together to highlight the color of the bird. The greys and muted green of the background work well with the white of the Great Egret. Thank you for sharing.

[Glenn Pure]

Thank you all for your comments. It's also been suggested to me that I could bring up the detail and colour in the background. The original frame was closer in colour to my original post here and I thought this one would look more interesting, and the egret stand out more, if I muted the colour and tone in the reeds and trees. But I'd be interested to hear if this would be better taken in a different direction that the one I've tried in the OP.

[gail bisson]

Hi Glenn,
I am the judge for this month's theme so cannot comment of the entries!
Didn't want you to think I was being rude by skipping over your image!
Gail

[Glenn Pure]

Hi Glenn,
I am the judge for this month's theme so cannot comment of the entries!
Didn't want you to think I was being rude by skipping over your image!
Gail

No problems Gail. Thanks for letting me know.