Concentration

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

http://gallery.photo.net/photo/11127504-lg.jpg

40D. 400 f5.6L wide-open. iso 320. 1/500s. fill flash at -1 2/3. almost full frame. I had to shoot wide-open as the BG was too close to the bird( and quite ugly). Hence, I positioned myself such that the bird would be perfectly parallel to the sensor. All C&C welcome.

[Harshad Barve]

this is terrific image KD , lovely pose , nice compo, great colors and killer BG , Big congrats
TFS

[Cory Bucher]

Beautiful details and color, would like a bit of a lower angel. Just kidding, you must have been in the water with him.

[Craig Brelsford]

I too appreciate that low angle. Good work!

[Stu Bowie]

Kaustubh, how much lower can you go, this angle is perfect. Good fishing pose from the heron, and you have exposed the colours very well. I like this lots.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose, soft light, angle and eye contact. Does it need a bit CW rotation?

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

I like the pose, soft light, angle and eye contact. Does it need a bit CW rotation?

I dont think it does. I have already rotated it w.r.t the in-focus water level before cropping. might be an optical illusion due to the tilted bird.

[Laura Stiefel]

Very nice, Kaustbh. I really like the low angle. Just look at all that duckweed stuck to his twisted toes!

My only complaint is that this appears enormous on my screen which I have set to the smallest possible setting. I have to scroll to the right in order to see the entire image.

Hmm. I'm just getting used to this forum. Maybe it's something in my settings.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Very nice, the pose is excellent and you did good with the crop.
Great detail too.

[wendell westfall]

Kaustubh, this is one beautiful bird and a favorite of mine -- though I have seen and photographed only one of them . . . If I find another, I'll surely post it.

[Jan Wegener]

fantastic image. The low angle really makes this image. Great job on avoiding the the busy BKGR :)

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Love the intense look on the heron. Great eye level shot. All elements are perfect for my taste. Well done Kaustubh.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Very nice, Kaustbh. I really like the low angle. Just look at all that duckweed stuck to his twisted toes!

My only complaint is that this appears enormous on my screen which I have set to the smallest possible setting. I have to scroll to the right in order to see the entire image.

Hmm. I'm just getting used to this forum. Maybe it's something in my settings.

Laura, thx for the kind words. The image is 1024 pixels wide. That is max permissible on BPN and you will find most images here are that wide. If you need to scroll horizontally to see the full image, then the resolution of your laptop/screen (either the native resolution or the way you have set it) must be the root cause. My office laptop has a 1024 X 768 max resolution and I have to scroll horizontally on it to view many images. But I dont need to do that on my home laptop which has 1600X900 resolution.

I am a little confused about your statement "my screen which I have set to the smallest possible setting". You should set it to the max resolution which is typically the native resolution. Monitors come with quite high pixel density these days. Some folks dont prefer setting the resolution to max as the fonts become really small and it makes reading harder. But for watching photos, I believe max is the way to go.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Kaustubh; very nice image. I like your point about the subject being parallel to the sensor, to reduce DOF and consequent inclusion of background. I quite often make the same decision, usually for different reasons though. I often hand hold, in overcast conditions if possible, and increasing DOF to account for a bird a substantial head tilt toward me (especially with medium to large birds like herons with long bills) means I have to give up shutter speed or raise the ISO. Most of the time I can't give up much shutter speed, already at the low end, so I need the ISO go up. It could mean the difference between ISO 1000 and 1600, and capturing a proper HA, could result in a decrease of of overall image quality (noise related for example).
About the size of your image; perfect!
regards~Bill

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thx everyone for all the kind words.