Cattle Egret Portrait

[Michael Pancier]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4543055734_45b74999d9_o.jpg

Taken at Gatorland last Friday morning.

EOS 7d + 500 4.0L USM IS
1/3200
ƒ 5.6
ISO 400
580 ex II + better beamer at -2 Ev
Manual metering (-1 off of incident meter reading)

What's the opinion on the shadows? It reminds me of the effect we get in the studio by adding a gobo to the strobes.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Michael. To answer your question....I find the shadows distracting. Good looking breeding-plumaged specimen with a great crst-up pose though.

[Don Lacy]

Hi Michael, While the image is a nice representation of the dapple lighting you find on these guys when they are sitting down in the bushes when breeding I still find them a bit distracting. Other then the shadows the rest of the image is is stellar from the pose to the colors on the Egret.

[Randy Stout]

Michael:

I agree about the shadows being a distraction. If they didn't go over the beak or crown, and the eye was in the clear, I think it would fly just fine, we could accept them on the body since they aren't too harsh, and the beak/eye/crown area really pulls our attention.

One great looking bird!

Randy

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Mike I find the cattle egret the most difficult to find in the open, they seem to hand out in their own little colonies further into the bushes Best solution is set up and wait for one to pop out in the open !!! As far as mixed light images this is not bad at all and attractive !! Would rather have all sun or shade !!!

[David Thomasson]

I think the shadows are fine. The bird seems to have a shy, slightly suspicious expression -- the sort of look one might
have when hanging back in the shadows a bit. Color and details are on the mark. Very nice work.

[Sid Garige]

With out shadows this would have been a wonderful image. Great subject, fantastic background and brilliant pose.