Great Egret

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image recently at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED image captured at 400mm
1/2000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 360 Auto 1 WB HH
Post processed in Lightroom Classic CC, Photoshop CC 2019 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

[annmpacheco]

Hi Joe, wish the head wasn't parallel to the top of the wing. You may have some blown whites, neck and top of back. I like the two blue water rings underneath the wing tip primary as I am guessing water drops...? Not sure why the water has a different "look" to it directly above the foot and all along the top of the bird, any editing there? TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe, wish the head wasn't parallel to the top of the wing. You may have some blown whites, neck and top of back. I like the two blue water rings underneath the wing tip primary as I am guessing water drops...? Not sure why the water has a different "look" to it directly above the foot and all along the top of the bird, any editing there? TFS

Hi Ann, thank you for viewing and commenting. The head position is what it is, typical to how these birds tuck there neck in when flying. The whites on the top of the back and leading edges of the wings are between 248 and 250 or 98% in Lightroom. Bright but not clipped. I like the whites to look white, the more the white lowers the more gray it becomes. You will see the gray looking whites in some images posted on BPN where the highlights have been reduced too much, most times trying to recover what was clipped when taking the image. I could easily lower the white in those areas but that would not show the image as it was recorded. In Florida I know I will be capturing images of white birds or birds with white so I always try to find a white bird capture a image and set the exposure so I am not clipping the whites. Thanks again Ann, I appreciated your comments.

[annmpacheco]

Hi Ann, thank you for viewing and commenting. The head position is what it is, typical to how these birds tuck there neck in when flying. The whites on the top of the back and leading edges of the wings are between 248 and 250 or 98% in Lightroom. Bright but not clipped. I like the whites to look white, the more the white lowers the more gray it becomes. You will see the gray looking whites in some images posted on BPN where the highlights have been reduced too much, most times trying to recover what was clipped when taking the image. I could easily lower the white in those areas but that would not show the image as it was recorded. In Florida I know I will be capturing images of white birds or birds with white so I always try to find a white bird capture a image and set the exposure so I am not clipping the whites. Thanks again Ann, I appreciated your comments.
Thanks Joe for your response.

[David Roach]

Love having top and bottom wing view, HA and EXP on whites. Also the two major tones of water are nice. I agree with Ann on wishing for separation of head from wing. Not under your control but for instance if the bird was at an angle more rotated to it's left, the head would be against that beautiful water and really pop. Simply beautiful as is though. TFS

[John Mack]

Nice view of this egret. Like the down stroke pose and the whites look pretty good.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Joe, Ann mentioned a different look to the water. I am in the same camp as the water above the bird looks really funky in spots some of the water looking smoothed out ...

with love, artie

[Daniel Cadieux]

The arched wingspan looks great, but yes, there is much evidence of cloning and/or other processing marks in the water.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe, Ann mentioned a different look to the water. I am in the same camp as the water above the bird looks really funky in spots some of the water looking smoothed out ...

with love, artie

Hi Artie, Ann, you and Dan are spot on regarding funky looking in some spots. I had removed a patch of Water Lettuce from the top of the frame and for a reason unknown did not blend it into the surrounding background. Funky fixed I think. WDYT?

[Arthur Morris]

Looks much better but once you know where repairs are being made it is difficult to think that everything is perfect (if you know what I mean ...)

a

[Joseph Przybyla]

Looks much better but once you know where repairs are being made it is difficult to think that everything is perfect (if you know what I mean ...)

a

Yup, better to capture it perfect in the camera. Thanks Artie.