Investigating...

[Joseph Przybyla]

I always find it fascinating the curiosity of some birds. I was sitting on the ground at Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida when this Great Blue Heron walked up to check me out. I must not have looked threatening because the bird was at ease walking around me as I sat on the ground, but then maybe judging from my appearance, overweight and old, it knew I could not move fast. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED, camera and lens supported by a monopod
1/1250 F/8 Matrix Metering EV +1 1/3 ISO 1600 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 330mm
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

[David Roach]

I love the narrow DOF here. You were right on the mark for being so close. Love that water BG and the flying feathers as well. Another JP classic. TFS

ps
Those eyes...

[Joseph Przybyla]

I trust the moderators won't mind. I worked up another version of this image I like to post to see which you like best. This is pretty much as it came out of the camera with processing.

[David Roach]

I like the second better as it seems to accentuate the flying plumes and more of that BG can't be bad. TFS

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

The curve in the neck, flying feathers and down the barrel gaze work well. I slightly prefer the second image, mainly because of the background and the flying feathers.
A bit more dof for the bill would be nice, but a real challenge since even f/8 wasn't enough. If you had the time, a shot or two focused on the nostril area would have moved the DOF a bit more forward, while still allowing the eyes to be sharp.

Randy

[John Mack]

Really like the slight "S" the neck makes here. Nice view of that pony tail as well. Nice framing and detail on the bird.

[Daniel Cadieux]

These guys really look like sock puppets from that angle! Enough variation in the BG to make it interesting. Sharp on the eyes - where it needs to be. I prefer the second post, it has a better flow to the comp IMO.

[Colin Driscoll]

Very inquisitive. The second post for me too which also gives a bit more detail in the white on the top of the head.
It really is a challenge to get the DOF in the right place for these close portraits.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Very inquisitive. The second post for me too which also gives a bit more detail in the white on the top of the head.
It really is a challenge to get the DOF in the right place for these close portraits.

Hi Colin, thanks for viewing and commenting. At F/8 at the distance photographed the depth of field was about 2.5 inches. The bill is about 5 inches long, so I focused on the eye area which needs to be in focus. Impossible to get everything in focus no matter the aperture.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.