Black-crowned Night Heron

[denise ippolito]

Canon 40D
500mm
ISO 200
1/2000 sec. at f/6.3
Tripod

[Daniel Cadieux]

Denise, you've some good things going in this image such as exposure, sharpness, composition. The wing down position is a good one. Unfortunately the heron is flying away (hard to correct short of going back in the field), and the WB is rather on the bluish side of things. A few easy ways to correct this: setting the black point on the pupil (which I tried and it worked), reducing blue and cyan channels (to taste) in colour balance, or simply adding some warmth in the WB slider in your favorite RAW converter.

[denise ippolito]

Daniel , I adjusted the wb-thanks I didn't notice. Also since he's flying away should this image be scrapped-

[Daniel Cadieux]

I wouldn't scrap it Denise. If you like it then it belongs in your files. I have some of these types of images too that I enjoy keeping even though I accept they are not molded to every expectation.

[Stu Bowie]

I would take this any day Denise. Although flying away from you, it doesnt deserved to be binned. Superb detail on the wing, and a lovely red eye. Our BC night herons over here look exactly the same. Well captured.

[denise ippolito]

Stuart-Thanks!

[Kim Rollins]

Denise -
Very nice capture and you can be proud of this one & I would not dispose of it.

I see Daniel has made a comment about WB being on the bluish side & if I am careful to look only at the bird I can understand what he speaks of and do not dispute there is a slight color issue with OP image. I do not think that the issue is very harsh at all and by reading the histogram of the image I see no real undesirable blue color cast issues for this 'image as a whole'. On an image such as this and because the issue is so subtle it is really up to you if correction is even necessary. As Danial said there are some 'easy adjustments' you can try and 'see what you think.' In addition to possible corrections that Danial has mentioned and noticing that you have CS4 I would suggest "Edit>Auto color". ;-) How simple is that? Please understand the on any version of Photoshop other then or before CS4 this would not be my recommendation and on prior versions I would be discouraging the use of Auto Features but ... happily they made some big improvements with the Auto Features when they brought out CS4.;-)

My personal take on the blue in the image is (and as if it were mine) the blue is desirable in the sky. IMO, yes the bird can stand a bit of warming. I personally would warm the bird and cool the sky with selections and multiple Adjustment layers. Here is an example -
Bird warmed with Adjustment Layer Photo Filers/Warming Filter(85) set to 19%
Inverted Selection and all other then bird cooled with Adjustment Layer Photo Filers/Cooling Filter(80) set to 11%
Sharpen a bit/two parts light and dark pixels USM and faded to luminosity.

http://upload.pbase.com/image/110838280/original.jpg

Again - Nice Image IMO and flying away or not I think it is a keeper.

[denise ippolito]

Kim, Thankyou for taking the time to show me your adjustment steps. I appreciate the help-

[Dave Mills]

Hi Denise...definately would not scrap it. You caught a good moment sharp with a very acceptable backround.Not easy catching these herons in flight. I like some of the adjustments Kim made...

[Nate Chappell]

Great detail in that front wing and the eye stands out, I definetly wouldn't scrap it Denise.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

HI Denise,
Love the image, while not a picture-perfect BIF it is still very appealing. I would be more than happy with an image this good. Now go to a bookshop and find a book on birds and see how much better your image is than many of the truly mediocre ones that publishers often use. Not that I have seen hundreds of bird books, but have a look next time anyway. :)

Well done!!!