Green Heron

I captured this head shot of a Green Heron last Friday at Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF + Nikon 1.4 III Teleconverter, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/2000 F8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 2200 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 700mm (1050mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped for composition and presentation

Joe:

Very nice detail retained despite the ISO, good colors, the blue sky complimenting the orange feathers.

I really enjoyed Lake Morton the few times I was there, hope to return when Covid settles down again.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

Nice Greenie Joe. When I see larger, fishing bird portraits I'll likely always think of you.

Lots of detail shown in the plumage and great look at the eye. Composition works pretty well though I wouldn't be mad at a touch more left.

I am a huge fan of retaining some texture in the feathers and face/beak, as you probably know, versus a completely Topaz'd out look. At first glance, it felt like maybe you could have selectively applied a bit more NR, however I'm not sure how much grit is in the raw.

Little bit of posterization in the bkg it seems. There are also some spots with a bit of a halo, i.e. below the beak and in the plume feathers sticking up going back over the head. Might be worth a second look.

Overall, well shown!

Lighting, exposure, and detail look very good, Joe! I woulda dropped the ISO and used a slower shutter since the bird was still. That would have yielded slight crisper feather detail. I love the proportioning, but I could see a bit more room at left.

All has been said. I'll just add I love that forehead feather and the framing overall. TFS

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brian Sump

Nice Greenie Joe. When I see larger, fishing bird portraits I'll likely always think of you.

Lots of detail shown in the plumage and great look at the eye. Composition works pretty well though I wouldn't be mad at a touch more left.

I am a huge fan of retaining some texture in the feathers and face/beak, as you probably know, versus a completely Topaz'd out look. At first glance, it felt like maybe you could have selectively applied a bit more NR, however I'm not sure how much grit is in the raw.

Little bit of posterization in the bkg it seems. There are also some spots with a bit of a halo, i.e. below the beak and in the plume feathers sticking up going back over the head. Might be worth a second look.

Overall, well shown!

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Hi Brian, thank you for viewing and commenting. I will revisit the image with your suggestions and comments in mind to see if I can make it better. Thanks again...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dorian Anderson

Lighting, exposure, and detail look very good, Joe! I woulda dropped the ISO and used a slower shutter since the bird was still. That would have yielded slight crisper feather detail. I love the proportioning, but I could see a bit more room at left.

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Hi Dorian, thank you for viewing and commenting. Most times I would have lowered the shutter speed but in this case the birds head was moving, right, left, up and down, constantly scanning the lake and sky. So I had to catch the image on the go anticipating where the head would be, hoping for a good head angle. Thanks again...

Looks quite nice to me. Head angle and framing perfect. along with everything else.

with love, artie