Grooming Egret

[Scott Frye]

Great Egret at Gilbert Water Ranch (9-5-2009)

These whites are birght. I chose AV at f9 and was really surprised to the shutter speed selected. The -2 EC seemed necessary because of the bright bright whites of the egret feathers. I like the mud mounds at his feet and under the wing -- not sure about the mud on the middle right side.

1/8000 at f9 and ISO800 EC -2
Bigma at 500mm
Canon 40D

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the preening pose and BG. You could have lowered the ISO and I'm surprised the head plumage is overexposed considering the EC. How did you meter? The harsh light didn't help you.

[Peter Wallack]

Hope you have Photoshop CS2 or higher. If so go to Image-Adjust and down to Highlights/Shadows. Move the sliders and you will no longer have an overexposed top and head of bird.

[Connie Mier]

Wow, that shutter speed is over the top. There seems to be a lot of noise (probably from ISO800?). ISO200 would have given you plenty of shutter speed for sure. I love these poses on the egret and I don't mind the mud here. You seemed to have done very well with the lighting, well captured.

[Randy Stout]

Scott:

Connie mentioned the noise, and it is quite surprising at that ISO in such a light image. Did you have to lighten the image significantly because of the EC chosen?

You did well with the pose. Preening shots usually work the best with the head roughly parallel to the image plane like here, good eye contact for a preening pose as well.

I would probably blur the large clump of mud on the left since it is so sharp and does pull the eye a bit.

Randy