Tricolored Heron- Which Version?

[Amy Marques]

Which crop works better? I think I like the second one better, but I'm afraid there might be too much detail lost from that extensive crop.

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM on Canon 40D
1/640 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400

[Amy Marques]

Is the detail sufficient here? Thanks.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool hairdo. :) I prefer the vertical crop and would try to remove the color noise.

[Don Berendsen]

That hair style is very popular these days :)
Nice shot!

I too prefer the vertical crop, I think the composition is much stronger than the original, and the greater visual interest more than makes up for any loss of detail portrayed.

[Fabs Forns]

I like the second version too, Amy. I see a cyan color cast all over the image. Adding some red in Color Balance may take it off.

[Amy Marques]

Thanks Fab. I wasn't sure if there was a cast or not. I'll give it a try....

... and it worked like magic.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hi Amy
I LOVE the vertical. THe repost still seems to have some color noise. If you can manage that the image will lift above fabulous!

[Ramon M. Casares]

Vertical works way better, I would warm the whole thing up a bit and I would also consider darkening the BG a tad. Lovely detail, pose and light.
Congratulations!

[Amy Marques]

Hi Amy
I LOVE the vertical. THe repost still seems to have some color noise. If you can manage that the image will lift above fabulous!

Axel and Akos, I don't believe I know how to get rid of the color noise. I'll will take some investigating how- or if someone can give me instructions on how or refer me to a tutorial, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[Amy Marques]

Vertical works way better, I would warm the whole thing up a bit and I would also consider darkening the BG a tad. Lovely detail, pose and light.
Congratulations!

Good idea, Ramon. I will do that on my color noise free version, if I should ever learn how to get rid of it.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Amy, most noise removal programs have the option of eliminating either "luminance noise" (what we would compare loosely to film grain), or eliminating "colour noise" (the coloured speckling usually introduced by bringing back underexposed areas, especially on dark colours). You can select the area(s) in question and run NR on those. Like the others, I love the vertical crop, and good job eliminating the cyan cast (good advice by Fabs!)

[Amy Marques]

Amy, most noise removal programs have the option of eliminating either "luminance noise" (what we would compare loosely to film grain), or eliminating "colour noise" (the coloured speckling usually introduced by bringing back underexposed areas, especially on dark colours). You can select the area(s) in question and run NR on those. Like the others, I love the vertical crop, and good job eliminating the cyan cast (good advice by Fabs!)

I really appreciate the noise removal help, Daniel. Thank you for teaching me something new. This repost has the noise removed and the bg darkened as recommended by Ramon. If anyone believes it needs additional work, please do let me know!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

YES! THat is it Amy! Well done. I didn't get back to you earlier. Sorry. I love it as is now! Congrats! :)

[Stu Bowie]

You are a quick learner Amy, well done. I prefer the vertical.