Egret Hunting

[Jay Gould]

I spent the day at a lagoon near Brisbane, AUS experimenting with the 5D2 and the 300 with and without TCs.

Camera: 5D2
Capture date/time: 8 Aug 09; 2:00 pm
Light condition: bright and sunny
Lens: 300 f/2.8
Focal length: 300mm
Extender: none
Tube: none
Flash/Comp: no; none
ISO: 200
Exp Prog: Tv
Speed: 1/3200 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
Exp Comp: -2/3
Metering: Evaluative
WB: Auto
AF Drive: AI Servo
Tripod: no
Crop: From 5616x3744 to 4023x3744
All C&Cs gratefully appreciated!

[Harshad Barve]

lovely pose and nice reflections
Light seems to be harsh here
TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree the light looks harsh - with some blown highlights to the egret's plumage. Some negative EC would have been needed to rescue those highlights...but with such harsh light and dynamic range this would have resulted in some blocked blacks in the shadows amongst the leaves (very cool habitat BTW!!). Although you purposefully included the reflection I find the comp stronger when it is cropped out. To reduce the bright shine on the them you could clone in some neighbourhing pixels with a soft brush at 35-40% opacity.

[Jay Gould]

Hi Daniel, interesting suggestion removing the reflection - never even considered doing that as I purposely shot for the reflection. The light was very harsh; it was very hot that day too. Regarding reducing the shine on the leaves, I am in the embryonic stage of CS4; you aren't suggesting doing each leaf separately, are you? I will have to ask my CS4 guru - my brother- how to do what you are suggesting as I would not know where to start to "clone in some neighbourhing pixels with a soft brush at 35-40% opacity."<!-- / message -->