Little Blue Heron

[Jay Sheinfield]

Softened the background, cropped to frame. How is the Comp? Will use higher ISO next time.

Nikon D3s
1000mm
iso 400
1/320 sec @ f9.

Comments welcome

[Joel Eade]

Hi Jay,

I see where you placed the eye using the rule of thirds but I believe the image would be stronger if you cropped some off the right and extended the canvas to the left. The bird in front looks very lovely, sharp, good pose and head angle and the water is nice. I'm not sure the bird in back really adds much here, mostly because it's pose isn't fitting in with the rest of the image.

Joel

[Cheryl Flory]

Agree with Joel, the merging of the bird in back doesn't help the image. Actually for me, it is a significant distraction. But at least it is more oof than the sharp foreground bird. Wonderful sharpness and details there. I am not familiar with these birds, so am wondering if there is enough room in the image for the virtual legs and feet of the foreground bird..... I might also try lightening the foreground bird some.

[Jay Sheinfield]

This is way beyond what I would normally do.....................................OP doesn't seem to work.

Edited to smooth out BG. I may hear it from the ethics police.................

[Geoff Warnock]

On the whole a very successful cloning job Jay. I think if you add some brown colour sampled from the background with a low opacity brush to the cloned area it will blend even better.

[Bob Decker]

The repost is a nice improvement. I might be inclined to lose a tad off the bottom.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Thanks..............my first edit was quick, I edited the re-post per your suggestion, a good one.

[Julie Kenward]

You all nailed the critique for me. I didn't think the other bird added anything to the first post. I do think if he had been turned in the opposite direction at the same angle as the front bird with a decent HA it really would have added something lovely but, as is, was just too distracting from the main bird.

I'd also take a bit off the bottom on the repost. Lovely clone work, Jay. As long as you say it up front there's no problem from me. I clone those things that don't strengthen an image all the time - but always say so. That's the important part!

[John Chardine]

Hi Jay- The original works for me but the left, front bird is crying out for a little head turn CCW, and maybe a bit more room on the left. I just find images with more than one bird so pleasing and interesting. What is a somewhat static image with the one bird becomes an dramatic interplay with the two. The rear bird could be stronger but I like the idea here.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Thanks everyone for the feedback............a few things to think about. I probably would not have posted the single bird image.............to John's point, it just wasn't interesting enough in terms of behavior or pose...............to Jules, John and Joel's point, I think a little more patience on my part could have captured the two birds with more a complimentary pose or interesting behavior.