Preening Green Heron

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF400mm f/5.6L
1/1000 sec f/6.3 ISO 100 HH

S/H, Sharpening, removal of a couple of misplaced weeds in CS5

[Bill Dix]

Nice preening pose, and great upside-down eye. I might consider desaturating the blue water spots on the left.

[Julie Kenward]

Ian, I think the biggest thing you're battling here is the harsh quality of the light. You've got a great pose and some nice detail but the light feels really stark. I'm also noticing that the curved area of the head/neck are not quite as sharp as the rest of the bird - it could be those feathers are softer but I think a little more sharpness in that area might help.

Do you remember what time of day this was taken? I also like Bill's idea of desaturating the blues a bit - they really pull my eye away from the bird.

You might try a reverse "s" curve for the lighting issue but I think that's only going to help so much. I also tried a "glow" filter/action on the BG and that seemed to soften the light a bit as well, although it wasn't the most natural looking solution.

[Ian Cassell]

Thank you folks. Actually, Jules, this was taken yesterday just at sunrise. I wonder if the harsh-look is from oversharpening as the light was certainly not harsh at the time. I agree about the blues -- I'll go back and work at those again.