Grey Heron

[JamesOffer]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2802/4163478402_3b5e69fa59_b.jpg

Howdy. This is my first submission! Thanks for any feedback. (Any ideas why I don't see the 'manage attachments' option in the Post New Thread screen??)

This is a friendly(ish) Grey Heron residing in Regents Park London. I snapped this shortly after the sun dipped behind the buildings around Regents Park, didn't expect much from it but the colours came out really nice.

Nikon D90 with Sigma 120mm-400mm OS lens @ f5.6, 1/200 exposure, 640 ISO, -4/3 EV.

[Harold Davis]

big welcome to BPN, james!!! glad you found a cooperative bird. he looks a little underexposed. i see you were at -1.3EV. i think with that background that 0EV would have been really close to being spot on. compostionally, i would like to see you either go in tighter or loosing it up to include all of the bird. i love that background. kinda funky!!

hopefully al can help you with the managing attachments question. did you scroll down?

[Jeff Cashdollar]

harold hit the main issues. Think about the image in terms of is it lighter than mid-gray, mid-gray or darker. In this case, the sum of tonality was probably mid-gray. Work with me, I know I was not there (smile). We have a gray Heron with earth tones on the BG, hence the meter should have read it correctly w/o any help. Since it was getting dark, might have needed more light maybe +1/3. harold is correct, EV=0 is a great starting point, but we usually take a few, read the histogram and adjust as needed.

Al can help you with the question regarding viewable options, other moderators can too, welcome aboard keep em coming.

Fill flash might help with the image softness at this shutter speed too.

[JamesOffer]

Thanks for the feedback!

Agreed, it's quite dark. I took a few shots at 0 EV before knocking it down, as the preview image didn't seem to reflect the scene. Here is the original shot (although the framing and head angle isn't so good):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2641/4165049673_29923d42d3_b.jpg

This is actually spot on colour-wise. But the darker image looks a bit more atmospheric. I've played with the EV in Photoshop and got the histogram looking more respectable (and updated the original image, the old one is here for comparison: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2687/4165078221_caa16b15d1_o.jpg

Anyway thanks again for all the feedback.
Cheers,
James.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi James,
A big warm welcome to the BPN family...I like the tight crop on the second image...very good advise given, I would have liked to have seen the full bird in frame without the clipped feet and tail. The image was a tad under exposed. You have good details and a good head angle. The funky background looks good and compliments your subject quite well...keep them coming...:cool:

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Exposure is better in the repost. When you lighten the image in post production you will introduce noise, espically dark to light adjustments. Not to worry, us noise reduction and apply on BG mainly. Additionally, remember when images are underexposed light was restricted so fine detail may be lost - you are on the correct path - welcome - keep em coming.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi James

The attachment option is only available for members, that is why it does not show on your screen. You need to link for another sites, with the attachment you could upload directly to our site !!

Agree with suggestions, main being a little underexpose .. re post looks better but has lost feather detail and looks soft Best to nail the image in camera. One question .. what is the bg .. can't figure that one out !!!

[JamesOffer]

The background is just a pond. I was really surprised by the effect myself: I think it was probably the low light and OS in my lens that contributed too it.

Will watch the exposure next time! Thanks again.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi James I see it now, probably reflection form trees !!