Intermediate Egret

[Simon Bennett]

Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia photographed near Noosa, Queensland at Christmas.

Canon 7D, EF500 f/4, tripod, kwik camo, ISO 800, f/9, 1/1600, ec -2/3, cropped for composition, NR applied to background.

[Dennis Zaebst]

Very nice, very sharp, good head angle. I like the low perspective and the out of focus water in the FG...were you in the water at the time? I have the 7D as well, and have noticed more noise at ISO's above about 200. Have you had the same experience? I often have to reduce noise in OOF areas.

[Simon Bennett]

Thank you for your comments Dennis. Noise can be quite prevelent in the darker tones with the 7D (especially if youn underexpose like I did here), but the noise is very fine grained and I find it easy to control with Neat Image. I applied a couple of rounds of NR to the background with this image. There was negligible noise in the whites here.

Attached is a 100% screengrab with before and after noise reduction.

[Arthur Morris]

Well done Simon. How did you handle the selection of the BKGR? Loverly image BTW. A bit of bill clean-up would make it even better.

[Simon Bennett]

Thank you for your comments Artie. Re selection: from the initial background layer I selected the bird with the quick selection tool and create a seperate layer with the bird only. I then applied NR to a copy of the background layer several times, and then placed the bird-only layer over the top of that.

[Wayne Ellis]

Hi Simon I like the ruffled feathers. Was this at Lake McDonald?? The coast has some amazing places for birds. All the best from a sunshine coaster

[Simon Bennett]

Wayne, Yes it is Lake MacDonald, I was sitting in it on an old flooded culvert at Jabiru Park.

[Nate Chappell]

Great point of view and angle with just enough habitat to really add to the shot, nice job Simon:cool: