Little Egret - Egretta garzetta

[Steve Kaluski]

Not a huge amount to say on this one, although it was difficult to balance the metering due to, IMHO the contrasting colour & light. Left the orange 'blobs' in, some might say remove them as they are distracting? Any advice on retaining more detail, toning down etc in relation to the white of the bird very welcome.

Steve
MKIII 500f/4 plus 1.4x 1/320 f/5.6 ISO800 FF (Tripod, Wimberley Head)

[Chris Martinez]

The whites look great to me. Lots of detail! I wonder if you just slightly brightened the eye area. Just a little bit.
I quite like the BG as is:)

[Robert Amoruso]

Steve,

A well-proportioned portrait though I would like to see more room in front of the bird's beak. Crouching some could have possibly gotten rid of the orange in the background. You will want to try for better eye contact. Here the bird is angle away from you. Making a noise may have caused him to turn the head more towards you. Notice how the beak is OOF with the turn of the head away from you. A slight head turn towards you would have gotten you better eye contact and the beak sharp.

On exposure, a spot-metering of the white bird and adding 2 stops and then manually set exposure, check histogram and tweak if needed. Given the shadows on the face due to the light direction from what appears to be left and behind the bird, fill-flash would have been a good choice here.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Chris.

Hi Robert, thanks for this, it's more in-line with what I was looking for.

DOF on something like this I must have to say, I do tend to struggle with, and always find the the beak always tails off. :( Never to sure about distracting your subject and guess it's a 50/50 on which way they will turn, or indeed, move!!! Certainly a move towards me would have helped, giving a better image for the reasons indicated in your reply.

Must get to grips with flash, just worried it spokes the subject, or gives a false feel, if you know what I mean. BTW, do you have a workflow for Flash? :):):)

Thanks
Steve

[Robert Amoruso]

Steve, Well I am kind of spoiled living in Florida as a small noise may cause a look in my direction. Other parts of the world the bird may flush.

DOF is very shallow with long lenses. That is why a small head turn towards you can put the beak in the same plane as the eye. Focus on the eye and the beck is sharp too.

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve, Well I am kind of spoiled living in Florida So no issue with light then. :D

Yes, FP is always on the eye with something like this.