Tri-colored Heron

[Joseph Przybyla]

The feathers on these birds is gorgeous this time of year. Molting is over, breeding plumage is growing in. This image was capture at a stop along Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Merritt Island, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF + Nikon 1.4 III Teleconverter, Handheld in shooters position
1/5000 F/8 Matrix Metering EV -1/3 ISO 1000 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 700mm (1050mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic. Photoshop CC 2022 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

[John Mack]

A nice portait. I do like the slightly ruffed up feathers. The color of the background goes great with the bird.

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto the positives above but awkward is awkward ...

with love, artie

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Joe ... the subject is attractive and the processing looks very good with tons of details !!!! And I love it when images are presented that way ....

But the crop is somewhat " wrong " IMHO . How is the full frame looking ??

Looking at your techs , I am very envious .... I am mostly shooting wide open / around 1/ 800 or a bit faster and Iso starting at 5000 and way higher . At least at the moment .... here in Central Europe .

TFS Andreas

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.

Artie and Andreas, here is a edit that I think appears less awkward. A little rotation and different crop.