Snowy Egret

[WIlliam Maroldo]

SonyA700~Sony70-400G@400mm~ISO500~F8~1/2000sec~manual exposure~10-1-2009~Brays Bayou~Houston, Texas
CS4/Topaz Adjust3(small detail preset)/Topaz Clean2
Though I generally try to keep man-made elements out of images, this culvert added an interesting compositional element IMO (pure black in contrast with the white bird, nice curvature).
Selection of bird and subsequent Gaussain blur to background.
comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill

[Keith Carver]

Even before OOTB, this is a great photo of a snowy with perfect EXP, good detail on legs and feet. I like your treatment of the whites, with a slightly embossed feel. COMP is great, I like the bird-on-culvert, and the black FG. Lovely BG which helps soften up the image. Nice job!

[Harshad Barve]

Lovely treatment and bang on exposure , killer BG , I liked it very much
TFS

[Nick Palmieri]

I like the bird a lot. Nice PP. Beautiful.

[denise ippolito]

Bill, I love the pose! The blur works well here as does the curve of the cylinder. The black looks good to me also. Beautiful exposure and details. Very nice image!!!

[Christopher Miller]

Perfect pose, exposure, and details, Bill! Love the colors. I might crop a bit from the bottom up to where the edge of the culvert ends on the right side. Trying it with a browser crop, it seems to balance the comp a little better IMO. Good job!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Bill, Nice exposure on the bird with the detail really popping. The positioning within the comp is good along with the wing position. Great backround with soft, muted colors. I agree with Christopher about cropping a bit off the bottom. I would crop it a little above your name...

[Indranil Sircar]

I like your treatment on the whites. The bird really stands out in that bg. Great pose and composition.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thanks everyone! Agree with Dave and Christopher on the cropping suggestions. Regards~Bill