Grey Heron

[Stephen Earle]

50D, ISO 400, 1/3200, f4. Taken in Pretoria, South Africa.

[Rohan Kamath]

I really liked the moment captured here. Superbly exposed. The space in front of the bird is perfect to give that landing feeling. Also the raised crest looks terrific.
Just wondering if it would be possible to tone down the whites on the face an neck a little bit???

[Randy Stout]

Stephen:

Nicely captured heron, with nice pose, and crest as mentioned by Rohan. I agree that the whites are a bit hot on the neck and face. A bit of highlight recovery would help. Stick is a plus. HA looks to be a few degrees away, but its close.

You might consider softening the shadows under the wing just a bit.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Leo Berzins]

Wonderful action captured here and the raised crest is great as Rohan said.

The whites look fine to me but lack detail. Perhaps you could try the clever AM technique of Linear Burn.

[Erich Stevens]

Stephen,

This is a great image. Love the twig in his bill and there's enough HA to make it work. Burn some of the hotter whites a bit, particularly his cheek, and I think you've got a winner.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Randy said it for me, on my monitor the whites look a TAD hot but overall exppsure is great, pose, natural moment, sharpness, comp and detail as well as color and species are great too. I would also suggest to brighten the shadowed wing a little more.
Congratulations!

[Stu Bowie]

I like the folded back wings for the landing Stephen, and this is nice and sharp. I also like the single feather in the crest, and the building material a bonus. The whites look on the borderline to me. ( without checking)

[Phil Ertel]

I like the moment you captured. The pose with the wings back and the feet extending out is pleasing. The material in the beak adds interest to me. I find the bright areas on the neck and the dark shadow on the wing distracting. Thanks for sharing.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Almost perfect HA Stephen. Otherwise a superb image mate. Thanks for sharing. :)

[Dave Barnes]

Super detail and colour Stephen. I like the pose and comp.

[Stephen Earle]

Thanks for the comments guys.