Tricolored Heron

[WIlliam Maroldo]

SonyA850~Sony70400G@400mm~ISO500~1/1250sec~F7.1~manual exposure~overcast~HH~4-14-2011~Bryan Beach(near Freeport), Texas~CS5/
Smart sharpen to image after resampled to web size.
Comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill

[Tom Redd]

Bill, beautiful colors and good pose. A tad more DOF might have helped. Possibly some selective sharpening on the beak. Very nice image.

[bhavya joshi]

nice captured William.. nice details and color just little bit sharpening on beak as tom said..:S3:

[John Guastella]

Nice subdued light and a great pose with raised foot, imparting a sense of motion. Looks like the focus point may have been on the body, hence the slightly soft bill and head. A bit of a head turn away from the audience would be have improved the image.

John

[Ronan Donovan]

Great capture of this bird in breeding plumage. I like the depth of field and the head angle is fine. Is it level though? I can't seem to get used to the surface of the water when I look at it? I also like the sense of movement with the rising leg and foot breaking the surface. I would say that if can get a lower angle on it next time would be an improvement; eye level or bellow, but maybe you would have a gnarled background?
Thanks for sharing.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thanks for the feedback Tom, Bhavya, John, Ronan. In agreement that the bill could be sharper, and indeed increasing the DOF would have helped. More of a head turn away would have decreased the DOF needed, and that would have worked as well, but the bill direction in this one, more or less the direction the bird was moving, seems best.
A lower angle, which I always strive for, would have included the mud that was on the other side of the small pool that the birds were feeding in. As a matter of fact, due to the drought we are having, the pool dried up only a few days later.
About leveling; it may need a slight CW rotation. I know I had it right, based on the reflection that has been cropped, but I subsequently added some canvas on the right with a CA fill which likely threw it off.
regards~Bill