Great Blue flying into Venice Rookery

[Dennis Zaebst]

This in-flight GBH was shot at the Venice Rookery in March. I have a series of these, as the birds flew into and out of the rookery. I was there at dawn, but this one was taken later in the morning, about 10:45 a.m. Light was from the left and behind me. The birds were generally flying into and out of the rookery from the far left.

It was a little underexposed, so I had to increase exposure in post-processing 1/2 stop, and shadows slider about 36; I employed noise reduction in LR 4.2 as the shadows under the left wing showed a little noise. This is also about a 50% crop due to the shorter focal length.

Canon 7D
ISO 400
70-200 mm f/4L IS + EF 1.4x TC II at 280 mm focal length
f/9.0 and 1/2000 sec.
Flash did not fire (I did not use a flash on this one, but I used a 580EX II and a flash extender on some other shots)

I would like to know what you think about composition and technique.

Best regards,
Dennis

[Troy Lim]

Dennis, The shot is a bit tight and the bird is flying away from you which makes it less engaging to the viewer. Exposure looks good after PP, being that late, it is pretty good, not much you could do about the under wing due to the light angle.

[RichardCurtin]

Believe it is an interesting pose and agree giving it more space would be good. The flash would have helped shadow detail. Would be interested if anyone has suggestions on bringing out detail in the shadowed wing and still decreasing the noise.

[Dennis Zaebst]

Well, adding space around the bird isn't a problem...I cropped it pretty tightly I admit. Will work on it some more. Thank you,

Best regards,
Dennis

[Nancy Bell]

I like this pose in that it is different and shows an intensity in the heron looking for something. It would have been a perfect world if his body and head were angled a bit more towards you and you could have gotten just a bit more underwing detail.

[Dennis Zaebst]

Did a few adjustments to the first image...what do you think? The bird was actually, despite appearances, flying directly across my field of view, perhaps fighting a cross wind. The legs and body were pretty much parallel to me. Agree the flash would have helped.

Thanks in advance,
Dennis

[RichardCurtin]

Really like the improved detail in the shaddowed wing. Possibly you could mask this adjustment and just brush in the undersurface of the wing and leave the rest as in the original. Nice image.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The head looks parallel to the sensor which is a nice surprise judging from the thumbnail. I prefer keeping the underwing as is in the OP, the repost shows obvious manipulation there. Well focussed and sharp...I'm just wondering if there was too much Nto the subject as it looks a bit smooth. I like the fact there are faint clouds to add interest to the sky.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the exposure of the first and the composition of the second. I think the underwing in the second looks as if it has taken a hammering with the NR and shadows. I think you have also lost contrast in the repost, I am sure if you experiment you will be able to reach a compromise, I think it would be worth the effort becasue I think this is a strong image.

[Dennis Zaebst]

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful comments. Here's one more try.

I left the composition as in the re post, but brought the exposure, sharpening, and noise reduction back to the original. I brushed in just a touch of shadow enhancement under the left wing.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the repost - much better

[Dennis Zaebst]

Thank you Jonathon. I really appreciated your comments and suggestions.

[Nancy Bell]

Very nice repost.