Reddish Egret Flipping Fish

[Joseph Przybyla]

Dottie and I went to Ft. De Soto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida yesterday morning. I had fun following and photographing this Reddish Egret up and down the north beach. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm PF + Nikon 1.4 III Teleconverter, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/4000 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 800 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 700mm (1050mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2022 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped from horizontal to vertical for composition and presenatation

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

Great timing, flipping fish is great, one of my favorite Florida birds.

The nictitating membrane detracts from the eye, and you can improve that look by using a localized contrast adjustment to it. Makes it quite good.
I find the overall image a little bright on my monitor, and toning that down might be an option. It really helps with the brightness of the fish as well.
One other possible tweak would be to lower the brightness of the splashing water at the bottom, by using a gradient. filter coupled with a brightness adjustment. I find that reduces the eye drawing impact of the waves.

A very fun picture, thanks for sharing

Randy

[Joseph Przybyla]

Joe:

Great timing, flipping fish is great, one of my favorite Florida birds.

The nictitating membrane detracts from the eye, and you can improve that look by using a localized contrast adjustment to it. Makes it quite good.
I find the overall image a little bright on my monitor, and toning that down might be an option. It really helps with the brightness of the fish as well.
One other possible tweak would be to lower the brightness of the splashing water at the bottom, by using a gradient. filter coupled with a brightness adjustment. I find that reduces the eye drawing impact of the waves.

A very fun picture, thanks for sharing

Randy

Hi Randy, thank you for viewing and commenting. After reading your comments I thought I knew how to edit the image using your suggestion. I had raised some of the tones with a curve. I deleted the curve in this edit. WDYT?

[Dorian Anderson]

Randy is right about the nictitating membrane, so do think about playing with the eye a bit. I don't mind the brightness or the waves at the bottom; i'm just wanted for a more extended pose because this bird is so lanky and elegant. I also miss the legs in the deep water. But you have captured some really nice colors and feather detail, and those help offset some of my articulated concerns. The fish is really bright, but there's not much you can about that.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Randy and Dorian, thank you for viewing and commenting. Here is a edit and repost implementing the suggestions offered. Thanks again...

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

The third one works better for me. You can push the eye just a bit more for more contrast, but overall I think it is a nice improvement. I suspect you could tone down the brightness of the fish with a bit of work as well.

Cheers

Randy