White On White...

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this close up image of a Great Egret in breeding colors at the rookery in alligator breeding pond at Gatorland, Orlando, Florida. Only for a short time are their lores and eye colored like this. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED, image captured at 400mm
1/1250 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV +1/3 ISO 800 WB set with eyedropper tool. camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2019 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

P.S. Learn more about Gatorland and photography there in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-wrote. It is available on the Birds As Art Online Store.

[Aditya Sridhar]

This is stunning Joe! The detail is good, the colors are out of the world and the exposure with the high-key treatment is just superb. My only nits are the light green patches around some parts of the bird (for eg. below the bill on the LHS and top-centre above the head). Very easy fix. Awesome shot!

[Colin Driscoll]

Great colors and detail around the eye and lores. A bit more dof would have been good to get all if the bill in focus. Overall lovely shot.

[John Mack]

Now this is tight and graphic. Like the composition. That red eye really stands out. Should have entered this for the theme.

[gail bisson]

The whites are absolutely excellent!The eye just pops.
I just wish the bill had been within DOF.
As presented it almost looks as though there is noise on the near end of the bill.
The other thing that catches my eye(because this is such a closeup) is the illusion of an indent x 2 on the top of the beak. I know this is not the case, and just some whitewash on the bill but it really pulls my eye to those 2 spots. I would be tempted to clone in the beak where the "indents or depressions" are.
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Spectacular shot Jo, really eye catching well done. I note the comments regarding the bill and whilst I agree with them I feel the composition is such that my attention soon returns to the eye and the plumage so it is less of an issue for me.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated. Regarding the depth of field a few have mentioned, the total depth of field front to back was 0.06cm ( about 0.25 inches). I was 2.24 meters (about 7 feet) from the bird. I had to back up to be able to focus from my initial position. I have had this image in mind for a long time, to show the profound changes that take place when the bird is breeding. Peak conditions with the red eye. I knew the bill would gently go out of focus, I wanted the viewer's attention on the eye, colored lore and surrounding feathers. I could have backed up, not filled the viewfinder and cropped the image with everything is focus, but that would have been throwing millions of pixels away. I think the soft focus areas leads a viewer's eye to the sharp focus areas. A discussion on this topic may be interesting. Thanks again everyone.

[Jim Crosswell]

This is a real beauty Joe! I like the composition, clarity, details and breeding colours. You had a vision and I'd say you achieved it 100%.