Little Blue Heron

[Jim Crosswell]

Canon 30D, 100-400 L IS, 400mm, ISO 250, f6.3, 1/320s, handheld.
This shot was taken last year when I was still shooting JPEGs only. The BG is a palm with some dead leaves a couple hundred feet behind the subject. The blur is natural and the top left corner was dark so I added similar BG like the original. The image is a crop from a horizontal shot. I really like this image. Does this BG compete too much with the heron? All comments are appreciated.

[Brian Barcelos]

Jim, other than the perch and maybe some more sharpening of the head I like this one. BG is very nice and don't compete too much with the bird.

[Stu Bowie]

Lovely look back pose Jim, with good light on the heron. Interesting effect and texture on the BG - seems to compliment the heron nicely.

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice head turn and beautiful colorful BG. Would clean up the perch.

[Tim Theisen]

Jim, I like this shot a lot. IMO the background adds to, rather than detracts from, the overall image. Beautiful colors, good light and nice composition. Very well done. Agree with the sharpening recommendation by Brian. Keep up the good work.

Tim

[Nagesh Mula]

Hi Jim, I liked the posse of the bird and BKGR very much. I would tone down the BG and also sharpen and increase the saturation on the bird a bit more.

[Raymond Barlow]

really nicely done Jim., the background is really sweet... I might suggest going wide open at this distance, to blurr the bg even more.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the psychedelic BG, but I may tone down the lighter (and orangy) part above the head- it seems to glow and attract the eye. I like the overall feel to the image, good comp but you could still crop a bit at right. I know you got some sweet light, but the WB seems very "yellow" to me, in the repost I simply added some blue in PS Color Balance (+45 points) - and I feel it still retained sweet light qualities.

[Jim Crosswell]

Thanks for taking the time with this image Daniel. I like this adjustment with the increased blue. I think it is more true to what I saw at the time. I have to develop the eye for these colour adjustments.

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Jim: Wonderful shot with crazy cool background. I love it.

[Clement Francis]

Lovely portrait, great light and clarity

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Daniels' repost is a big improvement. Love the light and BG in this one, and would have preferred a more natural perch.