Little Green Heron

[Drew Wilson]

Hi all!
This is my first post on BPN and im happy to be part of such a great Forum.
I am relatively new to photography and i am interested in learning and improving in as many ways as possible, so i appreciate any and all critiques and comments you may offer.
Thanks so much for viewing!

Nikon D70s, 300mm hand held, Manual Exposure, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec-F5/6

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2073/2258598149_78d2d3a6d3_o.jpg

[Alfred Forns]

HI Drew Big Welcome !!!!!! i like this image a lot The Green is in good position with a great head angle bg is not bad for would just evict the one branch at bottom and take a tad of the top for proportion

Lower angle I'm sure was not possible but would have cleaned the bg even more I like this a lot 1!!!

Will do a bit of work and post below !!! Cropped the bottom a bit and the top for proportion Evicted the bright branch and worked on the eye

[Nonda Surratt]

Love the greens position, the scene and the colors, pretty cool.

Nice fixes by Alfred as well

[Blake Shadle]

Hey Drew! Good to see you on BPN. You know me, and I agree that a lower angle would make this even better. The lily pads in the background being in focus distract a bit from your subject. One last thing :) I'm not a fan of the lily stem that looks like it goes into the little green's neck. Exposure is right on. Keep up the good work.

Edit: and I like Al's adjustments!

[Alfred Forns]

Missed that stem Overlord !!!! Good call !!! :)

[paul leverington]

Drew--We pass by all manner of things everyday that are lower and higher than eye level--and never even notice those things. We are used to seeing birds from either a commanding or subserviant postion--not usually at eye level where they would jolt our attention. How much more powerful of an expirience would it be to hold a hawk on your arm and look him in the eye at the same eye level as your own!

To begin an adventure you have to leave home. You leave home, expirience things you never have before, you become evoled due to what your senses took in during your adventure, invigorated by the stimulus of those senses, and then you return home --a new and changed person for it. The more that an artist can accomplish taking someone on a journey- the more that art succeeds. If in an picture--lets call it a composition because thats what's really at work here ---you fall short of allowing the viewer to leave his world and enter into an adventure where they have never been before--then you also fall short of a powerful work of art.

In this picture we are looking at the heron more or less from the perspective of how we often see little animals--From our own. There is no journey. Been there--done that. Now if you get real low and enter HIS world--now you are taking us somewhere where we have never been before. The adventure begins!

Don't photograph the bird. Photograph the mystery. The mystical. The expirence of the emotions.The awe of the spirit world. This is what art does.

A lower angle would have made a huge difference here. Less depth of field would have isolated the intensity of the heron's concentrated stare. A great tension would then be realized whithinin the picture that would have us sitting on the edge of our seats like a good movie --anticipating what will happpen next.

Don't photograph the bird--or any bird for that matter --unless your doing documentary or identification work--photograph the power of the mythological--the dream--the adventure--the subconsious.

[Terry Eddington]

Drew, good selection for you first post. I like this shot. It took me a second look to find the nice reflection and it was a pleasant surprise. Some good suggestions "in a perfect world" above but you have great material here to start from.

[Blake Shadle]

Drew--We pass by all manner of things everyday that are lower and higher than eye level--and never even notice those things. We are used to seeing birds from either a commanding or subserviant postion--not usually at eye level where they would jolt our attention. How much more powerful of an expirience would it be to hold a hawk on your arm and look him in the eye at the same eye level as your own!

To begin an adventure you have to leave home. You leave home, expirience things you never have before, you become evoled due to what your senses took in during your adventure, invigorated by the stimulus of those senses, and then you return home --a new and changed person for it. The more that an artist can accomplish taking someone on a journey- the more that art succeeds. If in an picture--lets call it a composition because thats what's really at work here ---you fall short of allowing the viewer to leave his world and enter into an adventure where they have never been before--then you also fall short of a powerful work of art.

In this picture we are looking at the heron more or less from the perspective of how we often see little animals--From our own. There is no journey. Been there--done that. Now if you get real low and enter HIS world--now you are taking us somewhere where we have never been before. The adventure begins!

Don't photograph the bird. Photograph the mystery. The mystical. The expirence of the emotions.The awe of the spirit world. This is what art does.

A lower angle would have made a huge difference here. Less depth of field would have isolated the intensity of the heron's concentrated stare. A great tension would then be realized whithinin the picture that would have us sitting on the edge of our seats like a good movie --anticipating what will happpen next.

Don't photograph the bird--or any bird for that matter --unless your doing documentary or identification work--photograph the power of the mythological--the dream--the adventure--the subconsious.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!!! You've got me all jazzed up to be out in the field making images, but here I am in my office looking a bunch of stuff I have to program... The weekend is steadily approaching and the Hooptie Duex is calling my name!! Great inspiration for seeing more than what the average eye might see, Paul. If you read my post in the HAP thread in this forum, you'll know I'm a huge fan of creating emotional impact my changing your perspective.