Great Blue Heron

[Ian Cassell]

OK, I guess I'll jump in ... this is my first image post here, so please be kind :)

I recently discovered this pond on a golf course near an office that I occasionally work at. I've never seen a Great Blue there before, but there are lots of Neotropic Cormorants, Green Heron, Coot, etc.

Canon EOS 7D
Sigma 100-300mm f/4 + Sigma 1.4X TC @ 420mm
f/10 @ 1/1250 sec (handheld)
ISO 800

[Troy Lim]

Ian,

Welcome to BPN.
Action wise, this is good, showing the bird landing. From I could tell, you probably took this shot late morning?
I learned quickly after joining here that eye contact in bird photography is very important. Looking away does not help.

Keep shooting, keep taking notes. You will learn a lot from people on here.

Welcome again.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for the welcome and the comments, Troy. Yep, took it at noontime.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Ian - big warm welcome to BPN - dont hesitate to jump right in and leave comments on other peoples images - all we ask is that you say what it is you like or dont like about a image.
No faster way to improve your own images - its is also OK to downlaod other peoples images in order to rework them and the repost in the same thread.
Like the action - if he had been landing towards you and not away from you - would have been better.
The other issue is the angle of the light - generally you want your subject evenly lit - so lining the sun up at your back - of course this is not always possible - but will prevent parts of the bird being in deep shadow.

F10 might have been a bit of overkill here - plenty of shutter speed so thats not a problem but a lower aperture would have blurred your BG a little. As presented I would evict the rock in the foreground as it draws attention away from the bird.
keep em coming :)

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks so much for the welcome, Lance. I'll try to jump in when possible -- I must admit I'm a bit intimidated by the quality of work I see here :)

I wrestled with the rock issue. I also have some without it and thought it added some balance, but now I think you're right. I'll admit that I was sort of on auto-pilot here and didn't work fast enough to drop my aperture. I think you're right about that one too.

As for the sun angle, I would have had to swim across the pond to change that, so I guess I had to settle this time. :D

Thank you very much for the critique.

Ian

[Alfred Forns]

Big Warm Welcome Ian !!!

Great comments and fully agree with all !!! btw when we suggest moving right, getting low etc we are assuming it can be done, I know at times I have been shooting from a boardwalk with alligators all over the place and get a comment to get low :)

As presented you can lighten the head and neck area, bird will look better !!! Also not sure if this is full frame but would like more room up front, bird needs space to land and will give a better proportion !! Also in an ideal world the rock would not be there but is up to you eviction or not !!! Now with CS5 removing those things is a snap !! Will see how it will affect things !!! Looking forward to the next !!!

... btw do leave comments and just say what you see and fell, lots of these things are subjective. The person receiving the comments just looks over all, evaluates and draws own conclusion !!!

You got some nice duck ponds in your area, great early winter !!!

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks so much for the welcome and for commenting, Alfred. I'm at work tonight, but will have to go home and synthesize all of this and see what I can do. I think I have a little room left in front of him, but have to go back to the original to see.

PP is definitely a weakness of mine. I'm looking forward to learning a lot of it here!

... laughing about your alligator comment ...

Ian

[Dave Mills]

Hi Ian, I also wish you a warm welcome. After reading the comments I have little to add.
I offer this advice..don't be intimidated.We all have been where you are and have developed over time by learning from others and trying to implement what we learned in the field. It takes time and effort but the rewards are there.
Looking forward to seeing more of your images...

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Dave!

[Dave Leroy]

Very nice action shot.
I like the landing pose and really out stretched wings. Good timing on that.

This is the spot for learning all about photography. The best part are the critiques so post lots and comment lots and without doubt you'll learn a lot.

Good Luck and Have Fun