Great Egret in early light

This guy had just launched from this redwood tree. Shot this morning in early light with some thin clouds to the east, softening the light.

Canon 600 II, 5D Mk III, Wimberley II on big Gitzo; ISO 1600, f/10, 1/1600 sec. Luck (my best strategy).

Basic raw adjustments (nothing drastic thanks to soft light). added some Structure in Viveza and slight NR in Nik Dfine. Cropped a small amount top and bottom, more on the right, and added a little on the left.

Hard to tell here but the head is tack sharp. Things never look as good when I export from LR.

Love this flight pose, the under belly look, the tail, the movement of the wings. The inclusion of the vegetation really grounds this image. I would push the whites further if it were mine.

Diane nice push off image of a elagent bird some might not like the shadow underneath but it has a nice look to it
also like the trailing plumes well done

Excellent flight pose and composition, Diane.

Beautiful and graceful. Love the light on the wings

I really like the white bird against the soft blue sky, with the tree branches just visible at the bottom. Your composition, exposure, and detail are perfect. Beautiful quality of light. Very well Done, Diane. I wouldn't change a thing.

This is really nice. Nice view of the underwings and nice flight pose. I like the inclusion of the vegetation.

Thanks, everyone! Wish I could control outdoor lighting better, but I did bring up the whites and it looks better. It was very soft light and I hadn't gotten the manual exposure dialed in yet when this one flew.

Yep, that's about as good as one could expect....lovely exposure, graceful pose, blue sky and inclusion of the tree tops works in well