This photo was taken in the same vicinity the "Dancing Reddish Egret" was taken (South Padre Island, TX), but it was extremely calm this past Friday morning. I like the smoothness of it all, but am struggling with the tone of the background. Since it was at sunrise, there was a very heavy pink color cast. The three bands of color are shallow water, deeper water, and then the sky. I've played around with a few different versions, but am leaning towards the softer color version. Can't decide if it looks too washed out, or if it works to set off the heron? Any comments, suggestions, or tips are always appreciated. (Exif: Nikon D7000/500mm f/4-P @ 1/1000. f/5.6, ISO 400 on a tripod/gimbal head.) Processed in LR 4/CS5.
I really like your composition. The minimal background is nice, too, but I'd be inclined to use probably all the sliders in a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to bring it up a small amount. Probably followed by masking the adjustments off the heron with a soft brush. The image is quite nice just the way it is, however.
I really like the composition and pose of the heron. From my perspective, I'm not sure that I would do much with the background, it really set the heron off.
Greetings. At first glance the bg seemed just white to me. The detail stands out really well in contrast. The bg does make an appearance (to me) after looking for a bit, I think the contrast of the dark gray framing in bpn obliterates the subtle color. I downloaded to get a better look at the bg, which looks much better against a white framing. Did notice that the bg tone is a bit cool, for my taste I would just warm it up a bit. The overall contrast of the image really sets off the feather detail which is a bit surprising for a smaller subject in the frame. I like it!
Thank you Dennis, Colin, and Michael. I appreciate the time you took to look and make comments. You've given me some things to consider, so I'll keep working on the background to see if I can figure out how to incorporate more tone into it. Michael, I have my settings on BP Light, and didn't realize how big a difference it makes when viewing photos. Wow. I'll have to now switch between the different styles when looking at the different photos.
Here's a rework with just a gray point adjustment in LR. I took the sample from the front wing. It seems to have added warmth and brought out more of the tone shift.
Really like this one the composition is strong - very well done. Usually we like to have room for the virtual feet but the frame is well balanced and in complete harmony. A great example of leveraging simple elements to make a picture work - well done
Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 10-30-2012 at 05:23 PM.
Dennis, my post processing skills are about at the 1st grade level, so going back to the basics is the easiest road for me. Glad it worked out ok. Jeff, thank you very much. I sometimes struggle with composition, and when to crop and how, so I'm glad to hear I'm heading in the right direction. I really appreciate the time people on this site take to give constructive, useful feedback. It is a huge help to those of us who would like to improve our photographic skills.
Hi Jeananne-I Like them both, strong, elemental high key imagery is something I'm always drawn to and the first version hits it off. The second is just as strong, only different. I do find the central bands of color slightly distracting though I'm not sure how to go about adjusting it. Minor crop suggestion, personal preference thingie. Great capture, these are the types of images I wish were in my catologue!
Last edited by Randall Farhy; 11-08-2012 at 07:41 AM.
Great Blue Heron at sunrise
