Green Heron

This is my first post on BPN. I met Alfred and Fabs Forns while shooting on the Anhinga Trail last month and Alfred recommended I join the community. I'm thrilled at the opportunity to improve my work and meet fellow bird photographers!

First up is an environmental portrait of a Green Heron taken at Little Estero Lagoon in the late afternoon.

Canon 7D
400mm f/5.6
ISO 400
f/5.6
1/2000 sec
handheld about 2 inches above the surface

Welcome. I like the pose and warm colors. I also like the BG roots/branches but suspect I'll be in the minority on that one. Beak and tail seem sharper than the back feathers but it just might be tired eyes.

Superb typical habitat shot of the Heron

Welcome aboard Justin!
You nailed a common behavior of a fairly uncommon subject.

Looks like the Little Green Heron was perched on Red Mangroves roots?
This IMO is a well done habitat image.

Find attached a "re-post" of your image.
I selectively sharpened the bird and used the burn tool to bring down some of the "hotter" spots.

I feel these minor adjustments make it an even stronger image.

James - Wow, thanks for the re-post! I will for sure make those adjustments on the original!

I love the changes effected to the original - this is why I joined here, I would dearly love to improve my PP skill. A typical pose/ jist for a heron.Ours are called greenback heron and is nearly the twin of your GH.

Callie,
I call them Little Green Herons or Greenback Herons.
I think the official US name is "Green Heron"
James

Hi Justin (and Callie), I started with James excellent repost and boosted the saturation 6 points, darkened it a bit, and added 2 points of black to the blacks and the neutrals in Selective Color.

If you wish to improve your processing skills I can unabashedly suggest our Digital Basics File: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/ca....aspx?catid=32

Justin, Welcome, and thanks a ton for your membership support. Do check out the Tutorials Forum when you have some time.

Artie:
No image showed up.

Randy

Thanks Randy. That always happens when I forget to upload it!

PS: I wound up reducing the YELLOW SAT by 10 points so it looks pretty close to yours :) especially since you cannot compare them side by side :) :)

PPS: But when I compare them in Breezebrowser mine does look a bit better (from here).

Justin:

I couldn't resist a bit of work on this one. Great work by the pros here, but I took a bit of a different tack.

I used the last repost by Artie as start, but worked a bit on the edges/corners to help highlight the bird.

Painters work very hard to control their edges, contrasts and colors to keep the viewers attention in the frame of the picture, to keep their interest on the subject, stop you from wandering out of the frame.

Because this is a environmental image, there are lots of lines and contrasts that pull the eye away from the subject.

I applied curves and contrast layers on masks, filled them with black, then used a low opacity brush to paint in the desired effects. I concentrated on the corners esp, and some of the brighter areas behind the bird.

Fairly subtle, but it was a very fun image to try some of those painter type tech. on.

Again, my kudos to James and Artie for their work.

Cheers

Randy

Art & Randy - Thanks for the further reposts! What an incredible learning environment where I can not only receive critiques, but see them visually as well. I'm hooked!

Thanks for your kind words. We always try to go our best.