Mating Egrets

[Roman Kurywczak]

This one was from Gatorland a few weeks ago. My first but definitely not my last visit there! It was raining on and off and mostly bright overcast... but I really liked the dark BG contrast.....and it kept the whites nice and soft.
Canon 1D Mark lll with the Sigma 300-800mm lens at 536mm at ISO 800 for 1/400 sec at f5.6 all tripod mounted w/ wimberly head.

[Doug Brown]

Love the compo and the way the birds pop against the dark BG. I'd be tempted to push the whites a little to the right.

[Grace Scalzo]

I agree with Doug on the whites, but what a strong, moody image. Love the diagonals created by the plants and also the excellent view of each bird's eye.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Roman, the leaves adding nice balance to it. loved the action. Not always easy to get two good head angles in such a shot. agree with others on whites. The contrast is really awesome here. really liked this one.

Gatorland looks like a wonderful place. I should plan a disney trip for my son and take a day out for Gatorland :-)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Roman, the overcast conditions really helped the whites here - good underwing detail. I like the action, and they pop from the darker BG very well.

[Tony Whitehead]

Love what you have done with the dark surrounds, Roman. Leaves and wings work well.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Great light for white birds. A very nice comp. and real nice image all around. I might brighten the whites a bit , as mentioned.

[Fabs Forns]

Very poetic poses, love the darker surroundings and would lither the whites.

[David Thomasson]

This is outstanding, Roman. All kinds of good things going on in this image. I especially like the diagonal from top
left to bottom right, crossed by the diagonal from top right to bottom left. The shapes of the lighter leaves work nicely
with the shapes of the birds

I agree with the suggestions to pull the whites out a bit more, but I might do that selectively to pull the eye more strongly
into the head/neck area. Something like this ...

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1483/egretsmate.gif

[Roman Kurywczak]

Thanks all! Have done the whites already in my version at home....but now I have to explore your version too David!!! I like the idea a lot!
Thanks again!