Another Black-crowned Night-Heron

Or it may be the same individual as in my post from yesterday, although this was some 40 minutes later. I had focused my attention on the antics of some YCNH juveniles off to my right, when out of the corner of my eye I saw this guy emerge from the shrubbery at close range. I quickly turned but was only able to get this frame before he was past me. I would have preferred a full-up wing position, but I was glad to get a close-up shot of him at a nice angle.

D7200, 500f4, ISO 1600, 1/2000s @ f/8 manual, gitzo and mongoose.

Bill:

Good 3D effect from the separation from the background. Well exposed, nice angle in the frame. Agree about the wing position, but certainly not bad as is.

I might try a version with the curve pulled down just a sliver so the bird isn't quite so bright ( I know it isn't overexposed, just feel it might play better with the background if curve pulled down a sliver.)

Nice catch!

Cheers

Randy

Hi Bill, great close up of this fellow, and what a great eye. Exposure looks good, and I like the the feather detail on the near underwing. Nicely separated from the BG, and the Heron certainly pops from the darker BG.

Great to have one in flight at such a close range, Bill. Nice flight pose, great work.
I'm glad I went back and looked at your other image of this species. It looks fantastic!!!!!!

Lovely shot of the bird I think I would be tempted to lift the darkness of the background a little in order to reduce the contrast a little. I think it is the blotchiness of the background that draws my attention from the subject.

Thanks for your comments, guys. Here's a quick tweak to the jpeg: slight curves adjustment on the bird, and slight brightening and contrast reduction on the BG. Any better?

That yanks my chain Bill!

I like the flight angle, sharpness, exposure and composition. The repost makes this image even stronger. Well done Bill!

Repost is great, love the underwing detail- I quite like the part raised wing, you did well with just the one chance of a shot. BG sets him off well

Thank you Jon, Jim and Ivan