The Call of the Heron.

[Sanjeevprakash]

I took this shot of the Yellow crowned last month at Oceanside Marine Nature Park. This fellow was perched on a tree bark and I waited for quiet a while for him to change his behaviour. As he was making a call I took this Shot.

Specs:

Nikon D300s , Nikon 300mm F 2.8 @ 300mm, F/5 , 1/500s , ISO- 800 , Exp Comp: +1/3 ( It was a cloudy day). Cropped to about 40%.

Comments & critique appreciated.

[Randy Stout]

Sanjeev:

Great calling pose. Sharp, well exposed, great eye. Nice angle in frame.

I might do a little light clone stamp work on the bright patch left upper corner, just to tone it down a bit.

I like the environment, but this one would work well as a vertical comp.

Cheers

Randy

[arash_hazeghi]

love the open beak and enviroment overall it's a bit too bright with some hot patches as pointed out by Randy

[PhilCook]

Now that's one very big mouth ! Agree a tad bright a d would also work in vertical aspect, great timing and great post perch

[Sanjeevprakash]

Thank You Scott, Arash and Phil. Here's my re-post along the lines of your suggestions. I reduced the brightness and increased the Blacks a tad. I cloned out the hot area on top left corner and cropped it to vertical.Hope this looks better. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a pose! Looks evil :-) I like the habitat, except for some of the brighter yellow areas. I agree the image is a bit bright overall, the reposy addresses some of that. You could judisciously use the burn tool on the "tuft" of hair...I'm sure this will bring out the more yellow colouring it should be. I also wish it had perched higher on the stump, but this is what you were presented with. A fun image!