Blue Heron walking the walk [Archive] - BirdPhotographers.net

Gavin Slabbert

06-15-2011, 12:48 PM

http://sanddollarimaging.com/images/BirdPhotography/Blue-Heron.jpgThis opportunity showed up during my failed Western Grebe rushing (running on the water) shoot.

I need some serious help with sharpening and bird poses so have at it, I can take it.

I have been through some of the tutorials since joining but obviously not all.

Settings
Camera Canon 7d
Lens Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM
Kenko 2x extender

Aperture F8 (Sweet spot for my combo)
Shutter 1/500
ISO 100
Spot Metered
No flash
Shot from a rocking boat.

Software tools at my disposal
Adobe CS5
Lightroom 3
All NIK Software Plug-in's
Canon DPP
Photomatix Pro 4x (HDR)

Thanks for the help, pointers and most of all the critique

Arthur Morris

06-15-2011, 02:28 PM

OK, as long as you can take it here goes:

1-angle to the bird too steep
2-relatively harsh light from the rear is the biggest problem as it increases contrast and has left the face partially in the shade of its own head; strive to point you shadow at or close to the bird in harsh conditions.
3-the fence is less than ideal in terms of artistry :).
4-the contrail (??), the white streak in the sky is distracting.
5-the bird's head is turned a bit away from us and from the line of its own body.

Now get back out there and make some better images to start with and we can help you with the processing and sharpening.

Marina Scarr

06-15-2011, 02:44 PM

Hi Gavin:

I had to chuckle a little at Artie's critique b/c it's rough when his is the first critique you get. Aside from what he has said, I will give you a couple of positives.

Your composition works quite well. You have the GBH walking to the frame and you have enough space for him on the right to walk into.

The angle of the GBH itself it pretty good.

You have a nice clean background (BG).

The raised foot is a plus!

The best time to photograph in terms of light is early morning and late afternoon. Just making that change will improve the look of your images tremendously. I had to become a morning person.

Keep em coming.

Arthur Morris

06-15-2011, 02:49 PM

Yes, I should have mentioned the raised foot :).

Gavin Slabbert

06-15-2011, 04:31 PM

Ok I am going to open up my response with a quote from Norman Vincent Peale.

 "The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism"

With that being said Art, thanks for the frank and to the point critique, that is pretty much the way I would and do critique and what I expected having read some of the other critiques.

Things like the con trail can be fixed however the lighting which is harsh (harsh light = no shadow and no shadow = flat image).

The Heron was shot from underneath, again not a great angle but it chose to land on a viewing platform on the roof of a house, and frankly I expected a worse angle than I actually got.

Art a question for you, I understand that you (the Photographer) want the bird looking at you / into the frame but at what angle, sort of 45 degrees where the beak / bill is pointing into the image and you can see only 1 eye or more square on where you would see 2 eyes. The issue that I see with the 2nd scenario is that there would be shadow across the face putting the furthest eye into it.

Marina, by the time this Blue Heron showed up, we were on our way to the Dock after being out on the water at 5am (Got up a 2am to drive 3 hours to Clearlake so that we could launch at 5 :bg3: ) looking for Clarks and Western grebes rushing, only to be skunked.

Gavin Slabbert

06-15-2011, 05:38 PM

and Hi Marina (sorry for the typo in the last message) but have not found where to edit it, thanks for your opinion and critique as well, it is appreciated.

Arthur Morris

06-15-2011, 06:12 PM

Gavin,

re:

Ok I am going to open up my response with a quote from Norman Vincent Peale: "The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism."

A little praise is always nice :).

With that being said Art, thanks for the frank and to the point critique, that is pretty much the way I would and do critique and what I expected having read some of the other critiques.

YAW

Things like the con trail can be fixed however the lighting which is harsh (harsh light = no shadow and no shadow = flat image).

Disagree: harsh light = harsh shadows where I come from.

The Heron was shot from underneath, again not a great angle but it chose to land on a viewing platform on the roof of a house, and frankly I expected a worse angle than I actually got.

We can only critique the image.... Folks often defend their images by stating, "That's what was." Though I am a lover of what is it does not change the fact that what is often makes for a poor BKGR (or perch) for an image of a bird....

Art a question for you, I understand that you (the Photographer) want the bird looking at you / into the frame but at what angle, sort of 45 degrees where the beak / bill is pointing into the image and you can see only 1 eye or more square on where you would see 2 eyes. The issue that I see with the 2nd scenario is that there would be shadow across the face putting the furthest eye into it.

In this situation no head angle could have saved you. Do check out the huge Head Angle Fine Points thread in the ER. It will answer all of your head angle questions but will take some time to study the whole thing :).