Snowy Shadow

[Bill Dix]

I can't say I planned this effect, but I thought it was interesting the way the reflected light off the water cast a shadow of the egret's legs on the shaded wing. Juvenile Snowy Egret from JBWR a month ago.

D7000, 500f4 + 1.4, ISO 500, 1/2000s @ f/7.1 manual, gitzo and mongoose

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Bill,
I really like the light on this and the shape of the feet with the water coming off. That shadow really adds effect too IMO

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Love the light , and the effect !!! The drops of water add a lot !!

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Great timing and very nice light! Wish the right wingtip was a bit lower. The detail throughout is very nice! I see something a bit weird around the left wingtip. A dark halo of sorts. I can't tell if it's from processing or just a shadow on the water from the wing. Ideas?

[Bill Dix]

Great timing and very nice light! Wish the right wingtip was a bit lower. The detail throughout is very nice! I see something a bit weird around the left wingtip. A dark halo of sorts. I can't tell if it's from processing or just a shadow on the water from the wing. Ideas?

Thanks Miguel. I hadn't noticed that before, but now I see what you mean. It's not in the RAW file, but I didn't do anything in PP in that area, so I don't know what caused it other than some artifact from NR on the BG, or USM on the subject. But I think I can remove it. Thanks for pointing it out.

[gail bisson]

I really like this.
The shadow is really great as is the wing position.
Nice and sharp as well,
Gail

[Nico Steenberg]

Exposed to perfection and sharp detail captured. I like the landing pose captured !

[Mike Milicia]

Wonderful image!
This has umpteen things going for it ... great exposure and detail, the position of the feet, the water drops, the wing position, the unobscured eye,
the translucency in the wings, the great head angle, the very nice and moody background, and the shadow on the wing as the icing on the cake!

The only thing I'm not crazy about is the position of the bird in the frame ... a bit too centered for my taste.
If this is a crop and you have the room, I would try moving the bird a bit left in the frame.

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool, I like the shadow on the far wing and the dynamic pose. I prefer slightly warmer colors

[Shawn Zierman]

It's all been said. Great input from Mike too.
I'm surprised by the leg color...I would have expected them to be glowing yellow in this light quality...
Sweet bird in flight shot sir.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all.

Mike, I cropped some from the left for comp; I don't have any more room at the right. Arash, the brightest whites are just slightly on the warm side of neutral; but I agree that the blue shaded wing gives the image a somewhat cool look. Shawn, unlike the adult Snowy's with their bright yellow feet ("golden slippers"), the juveniles have greenish-yellow legs with black on the front. I could have popped them a little, but I think this is fairly accurate.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. I really like the pose, exposed very well, nice feather details, and love the leg shawdow on the wing.
Well done.

[Karl Egressy]

A very interesting shot with the shadow indeed, Bill.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you Robert and Karl.