Black Heron

[Chris Kotze]

Canon EOS 40D
Lens 100-400 L
SS1/1600
ISO800
+0.7 Step
f 5.6

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool pose, good light and the nesting material adds to it. I'm undecided about the branches on the left and would tone down the highlights and maybe midtones.

[Chris Kotze]

Thanks Alex. Better now ?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Looks better, I would tone down the highlights more and run NR on the BG.

[Marina Scarr]

The way you have captured this bird with its open-winged landing pose and nesting material is amazing. My first thought was the branches have to go and would make the picture more powerful. Agree with Axel on toning down the whites and midtones and feel the exposure on the repost is good. Your subject has gorgeous light and love the ways the eyes pop.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely compo and pose , vegetation adds, repost looks better
TFS

[Arthur Morris]

Stunning pose, wing position, and head angle. Killer on the nesting material.

Repost: cropped top and bottom, added canvas left, AVG Blur Color Balance, Selective color adding lots of Black to the Neutrals and Blacks. Toned down whites with Select Color and a 50% Linear Burn.

[Marina Scarr]

Second repost looks even better.

[David Fletcher]

Pretty cool shot Chris. Was intrigued by some of the suggestions so thought to see if I can offer any value. looking at this totally neutral, as if a raw palette, I came to the same crop thoughts as Artie. Phew! :D. This is what I then came up with. Nr on bg. Altered sky color via color balance. inverse. refine edge. change blend mode to luminosity. (important as copying a file increases contrast so have to adjust for that). Smart Sharpen on bird at 60% , 0.6) Flatten. using Quick selection tool, selected darker wing feathers and reduced brightness. Lots of ways to get an end result. :)

[Elmar Venter]

This is really great - wing spread, nesting material, head angle. David's repost really makes this image pop.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks David. Yours is better still.

[Chris Kotze]

Thanks for all the comments and advice. It's amazing the difference in PP it looks great thanks
I 'm doing PP on a spare laptop at the moment so it might differ from my standard desktop screen.

One more effort

[Harshad Barve]

this is turning out to be a tread to learn lot , image improving with every effort
TFS

[David Fletcher]

Nice one Chris. Not easy on a spare lap top. (Thank you too Artie. appreciated).

[Rich Steel]

Hi Chris

A wonderful image to begin with a well lit bird in good pose with the bonus of the branch in beak. This has turned into a very informative thread. The final images posted have shown some good evolution of that originally posted and how much difference a few small changes in PS can make.

Cheers

Rich

[Stu Bowie]

Great landing posture Chris, and I like the light, detail and sharpness. His building material adds to the image.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I love this image Chris! Awesome with the nesting material mate and the reposts make it look even better. I am afraid that all those blending modes are much too complex for my pea-sized intellect to comprehend. Yet they work superbly.

I cannot stop looking at this. Well done mate. :)

[Chris Kotze]

Thanks for all the comments