That Time of the Year

[Fabs Forns]

Nov/Dec season has arrived and the Great Blue could not wait!! There is one nest in the making, active branch offerings, we didn't witness any mating though, only tentative expression of love as rubbing beaks or feathers :)
He was extremely active and although the female displayed, he only had the home on his mind. Good provider, no time for romance yet.
Wakodahacthee Wetlands, this morning.

Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Lens (mm): 600
ISO: 400
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/2500

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

killer bg Fabs!!!
beautiful poses,light.....too!

[denise ippolito]

Fabs, What strikes me about this image are the beautiful poses that are accented nicely by the gorgeous BG. Nice moment captured.

[Stu Bowie]

I like the expression of the male, the way he has the building material and looking at the female. Good sharp detail on both, and what an amazing BG to top this off. Well captured Fabs.

[Bonnie Block]

Super moment, Fabs. Beautiful bg and detail.
I imagine our herons do this too, but they are 70 ft. up in the tops of the trees!

[Arsdel Fluesmeier]

Very nice. I like the muted colors and the detail.

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly image despite the less than ideal light angle. Did you selectively sharpen front bird? (D-O-F looks amazingly deep for f/4.) Love the BKGR.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Lovely couple. The BG is killer and it seems as the action is ready to start.
I find this image a bit light for my taste, but that's not a problem, just my taste.

I gave it a try in PS, brightness -15, contrast +25, I really hope you don't mind my intervention.

[Fabs Forns]

Loverly image despite the less than ideal light angle. Did you selectively sharpen front bird? (D-O-F looks amazingly deep for f/4.) Love the BKGR.

I was amazed at that too. Thanks, Maestro. I sharpened the whole thing and then both eyes.
It's pretty much vertical full fame, cropped on the sides.

[Fabs Forns]

Lovely couple. The BG is killer and it seems as the action is ready to start.
I find this image a bit light for my taste, but that's not a problem, just my taste.

I gave it a try in PS, brightness -15, contrast +25, I really hope you don't mind my intervention.


Very nice, JC, I dont' mind at all, still struggling with Canon's histogram in day light LOL

[Harshad Barve]

lvely moment very well cpatured here , killer pose and details
TFS

[Sid Garige]

Excellent comp Fabs. perfect DOF to keep both subject sharp. Well done.

[Kiran Poonacha]

as said great moment captured, BG adds well to the mood Fabs.. congrats..

[arash_hazeghi]

Beautiful behavioral photo with nice details and great BG, whites a tad hot on my screen.

[paul leverington]

Fabiola--I love the shot-- and that BG definitely makes it awesome. The OP looks washed out a bit but the repost seemed to introduce other problems. I think the bg is fine as is in the original, but you might tweak things using a curves layer, and brush some contrast on the birds. This should give you more pop factor and define more detail too. The bg streaks that form sort of in a radial direction above the birds looks terrific--augments a pyramid look to the whole image.

Paul

[Raymond Barlow]

I like the original a lot, the soft tones, and feel to the image.