Great Egret Landing

[Miguel Palaviccini]

I'm still getting used to the new camera, but really liking every second of it. This was shot at LaChua Trail earlier last week. I'm fortunate enough to live in FL and have quite a few species around throughout the year. On this day, there were 7 birds, all of different species lined up at the water's edge. We had: Great Egret, Great Blue, Little Blue, Black-Crowned Night Heron, Green Heron, Snowy Egret, Tri-colored Heron, and then a RW Black Bird fly over all of them. Pretty Neat!

More about this shot: it was taken later in the afternoon as the sun was setting. I should have taken the tele converter off as the light was diminishing, but decided to wait a bit. Unfortunately, I cropped the feet off of this one and had to bring them in from another photo. Added more to the bottom of the image. Otherwise, it's full frame.

Shooting Specs:
Nikon d800 | 500 f/4 VR + 1.4x
1/1600" | f/6.3 | ISO 640
Aperture Priority | -1/3 EV

Processing:
- Added canvas (and feet) to the bottom of the image. Involved a bit of cloning and patch tool work.
- Linear burn on the body and head.
- Selective sharpening on the entire body.
- Resized to 1024 px wide. Sharpened for web.

All comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated. :)

[Bill Jobes]

That's a beautiful photo of a graceful landing image, Miguel. You did a masterful bit of work in restoring the feet and canvas. If you hadn't disclosed it, it never would have occurred to me.

[dankearl]

Your PP work is really good, no one I think would have noticed.
I think a bit brighter would look nice.

[Satish Ranadive]

Miguel:
I really love the landing pose and beautiful lights.I like the great details and composition.Nice reconstruction too.

Regards,
Satish.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice pose, exposure, BG and good details. I was actually wondering about the feet before I read your description since I see some artifacts (a bit like a halo) in that area... it's minor work to fix :)

[gail bisson]

Love the light and wing spread. Very nice BG,

Good job on the PP. I would just fix the halo around the rear toe.
Gail

[Miguel Palaviccini]

nice pose, exposure, BG and good details. I was actually wondering about the feet before I read your description since I see some artifacts (a bit like a halo) in that area... it's minor work to fix :)

Gail, Arash - I knew I could kind of see it, but wasn't sure if it was because I was making it up in my mind. I'll make the quick fix. Thanks for the heads up!

[Randy Stout]

Miguel:

Well captured, good timing, nice light, and good reconstruction with the caveat about the halo. I wouldn't have noticed it probably if not looking for artifacts. I could see a sliver more canvas on the top.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

I could see something too at the feet and at lower left corner, but I love the landing pose, light, open bill, and habitat in the BG. Ideally the front wing would have been opened even more. Good exposure control and details.

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful landing shot. Wonderful light and nice exposure. The open beak adds to it. This was definitely worth borrowing a pair of feet.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot.
I really like landing pose, exposed very well, very nice light, and geat pp work.
Very well done.

[David Salem]

Great pose and wing spread. Exposure looks good. BG makes the bird pop nicely. Good pp work too. Well done...