Great Blue Heron Courtship

[Roger Williams]

We have a large heron rookery on the Mississippi River just north of downtown Minneapolis. The courtship activity has been at peak the past week. After beating each other up for an hour or so, these two birds arrived at what seemed to be a tender pose. The sun was back and forth from behind a cloud which made image capture tricky.

Camera: Canon 40D
Lens: Canon 300mm f/4L IS with 1.4 extender
Aperture: f6.3
Shutter: 1/1600
Gitzo tripod/RRS ballhead

[Robert O'Toole]

Great pose Roger and the image looks sharp. Too bad some sticks are blocking the birds bodies, nests are usually busy with sticks but its better to have them in the back if possible.

Could use some WB correction and curves adjustments also.

Robert

[Robert O'Toole]

This is after a simple curves adjustments and quick WB correction.
And a very mild USM applied to the face and bill.

Robert

[Arthur Morris]

Robert is good. Re-post much improved. What I like best is that you had a nice slot through the sticks to both faces. Later and love, artie

[Robert Amoruso]

I agree with Artie that being able to see the faces makes it work. Nests are going to have sticks sticking around - sometimes you can get the birds arrangement in them so that it looks pleasing as was done here. I like the interaction an how the head plums are up. Robert's repost corrected the WB and contrast needs.

[Roger Williams]

Thanks all. I appreciate the comments. Robert, I use PS Elements 5.0 so I don't have all the options available with CS3. I'm very limited in making adjustments to white balance and curves. Maybe someday.