Great Egret

[Matthew Pimm]

Harlem Meer, Central Park, NY
Canon 7D, 300mm F4, 1.4x, ISO 800, F5.6, 1/2000, AV, AI Servo, tripod, Wimberly Sidekick

[Steven Grogger]

I like the almost black and white lighting... the egret may benefit from a little more sharpening.

[Julie Kenward]

Matthew, there is some good stuff about this image but also things you can still go in and correct to take it up another couple of notches. Your crop looks good and the bird is nice and sharp - although the face and eye might benefit from a bit more sharpeness.

Basically, you're overexposed on the top of the bird and underexposed on the bottom. You might try a shadow/highlight adjustment in PS and see if that can even it out a bit. If you shot this in RAW format, then I'd encourage you to go back to the raw file and adjust the whites and blacks there instead - it tends to introduce a little less noise that way.

From a technical standpoint, getting the bird to come towards you or parallel to the camera sensor instead of angled away from you would make for a stronger image. Next time, try lining up the light at your back and position yourself for the best exposure and wait for the birds to come to you. Also, getting him in the front third of the frame with more space in front of him than behind him will also look better overall. Those two things almost always yields a better final product.

[Matthew Pimm]

the face and eye might benefit from a bit more sharpeness.

You might try a shadow/highlight adjustment in PS and see if that can even it out a bit. If you shot this in RAW format, then I'd encourage you to go back to the raw file and adjust the whites and blacks there instead - it tends to introduce a little less noise that way.



Thanks for your detailed advice. I had forgot to mention in my earlier post that this had quite a bit of exposure compensation -1EV when shot. It was 1:30 in the afternoon (not the best time I admit) but heavy overcast was helping me out. Just as I came across this guy the sun started peeking out of the clouds and I saw on previous frames the highlights were clipped so I probably overdid the compensation although the wings are still over-exposed. In the attachment below I have tried to follow your advice. I need to pick up my photoshop skills though - it's a bit of a rough draft. Is this better? Or overdone? I try not to have over-sharpened un-natural looking images ...

[Julie Kenward]

Matthew, you can see way more detail now...nicely done! You can always darken the water back with a mask if that is more the "mood" you want to set but the bird definitely looks better now.