Perching Great Blue Heron

[Steve Canuel]

40D, 400DO + 1.4xTCII, f11 (forgot to change), 1/60s, ISO 1600, +1/3 EC, Eval Mtr, tripod, MLU, cable release.
Steve

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16412

[Stephen Stephen]

Steve I like the composition, the perch and the BG. You pointed out the F11 so a smaller F stop number would have softened the BG more.

[Ed Cordes]

Classic pose well done. I agree less DOF would be better. This image might be even better if the BG were darker.

[Ken Watkins]

I am no expert but I think this is extremely good! The background colour is OK by me and as soft as I need it. The subject is sharp. I know in theory the lens should be more open, but has that spoilt this picture?

[Maxis Gamez]

HI Steve,

A classic pose and composition for the GBH. The BG does not bother me at all but I agree with Stephen,

Keep them coming!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the relaxed pose, perch and the BG looks good to me, too. The whites have a slight blue cast on my monitor and there is some color noise in the BG.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the pose. Am confused as to why ISO 1600 (even though it looks darned good but for some BKGR noise). The 40D color and files are the bomb. I believe that the BKGR would have been a lot sweeter wide open at f/5.6.

[Steve Canuel]

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions. I would've used a smaller f stop if I'd been paying more attention to what I was doing instead of getting excited about having him pose on this branch so close to me.

Art, this was taken at 8 pm. Being close to the eastern base of the mountains, I don't always have a lot of time between harsh late afternoon light and mountain shadow. I also don't own/use a flash so I tend to take a lot of photos at ISO 1600 and try to work the exposure and PP to minimize the noise.