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Thread: American Bittern

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    Default American Bittern

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    I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays, I know I am! I was able to add a new species to the list yesterday on a walk on LaChua Trail (Gainesville, FL). While I'm sure that my eyes have 'seen' an American Bittern before, this was the first time that I actually noticed one. At first, he was down in the water fishing. I took the obligatory first species shot (not great, and it was later deleted), and was content with adding it to the list. But I decided to wait it out to see if I could get a better shot ... and boy was I in for a surprise! Within 10 minutes he decided that he needed to get to the other side of the walkway (an unpaved 10-15' "road") to get to the other side. I quickly removed the lens from the tripod, removed the teleconverter, and layed down on the ground. Within seconds, he shows his head and sprints in front of me to the other side. I managed 5-6 shots, of only 2 had the entire body in the frame. This is one of them.

    I've added canvas to the front and back of him. He was backlit, so I had to overexpose to get any detail in the feathers. Hence the bg is blown out.

    Shooting info:
    Nikon D800 | 500 f/4 VR
    1/640" | f/4 | ISO 400




    Comments, critiques and suggestions are always welcomed and appreciated. Thank you and have a happy new year!


    Last edited by Peter Kes; 01-01-2013 at 08:34 PM.

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    This is beautiful! Bitterns are so difficult to find and photograph (at least where I live), this is a cracking shot, great job with the bird being backlit.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    You certainly got this one just right, love the pose, excellent detail and fine exposure, I don't mind the bright background at all.

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Well done, Miguel. Tough birds to see, much less capture. Wonderful pose, and a good job handling the tough backlighting. And a Happy New Year to you.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Miguel, I can see why you are happy with this - I would have been. Good job with the exposure, and getting down low has really turned out well. Well timed to capture the raised foot. Although you stated he 'sprinted' across the road, this looks he's 'creeping' across the road. I too like the semi two tone BG with the high key on top. I would love to see a version with some added saturation to the lower BG.

    I decided to give it a go myself. In Viveza 2, added some control points at the bottom, reduced the brightness, added a touch of saturation and warmth.

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    Thank you for the comments all. Stuart, I always like your renditions! Thanks for taking the time to edit my photo. I like the look of it, and will try something similar myself.

    He may not have sprinted, but he definitely wasn't creeping! He covered the 3-4 meters in less than a couple of seconds. I got 6 shots off at 4 fps.

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    beautiful capture of a beautiful and rare to photograph bird

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    What an awesome shot of a difficult species to get a full view of.
    I would be in seventh heaven to have this is my files.
    I find Stuarts' version a bit too much saturation so would go for something in between the OP and the repost.
    Now the dream shot for you becomes the same walking pose and full view but with the setting sun behind you!!
    Happy New Year to you and yours,
    Gail

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    Lifetime Member Marina Scarr's Avatar
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    Congrats on photographing your new species. You dealt very well with a tough lighting situation. Good thinking on getting nice and low. What a difference it makes, esp with that raised foot. I agree with Gail on somewhere in between the 2.
    Marina Scarr
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    I am also in between the two. I love the low angle and soft focus around the bird as well as the hunting pose.

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    BPN Member Tony Whitehead's Avatar
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    Love that pose with the extended neck and raised leg, Miguel. I like the high key look. At ISO 400 the D800 still has a lot of dynamic range and I think you could reprocess this in ACR and really push the shadows slider a long way to the right to open up the detail in the plumage even more. Pulling the highlights well left may tone tone down some of the blown areas.
    Tony Whitehead
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    I really love this shot with nice cropping, low POV, and fantastic details! I think Stuart did a great job on adding more saturation. Very minor, but I wish the head angle is just tiny bit more toward the camera.

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    Terrific image Miguel. Not an easy bird to photograph here, and you've done a great job with it. The low angle along with the pose make this a killer.
    Another vote for sat between the op and Stu's repost.
    Did you get any with a slightly better HA?

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    I would kill to get one in the open one day! Great pose and you did well with the backlit subject. I also would shoot for between what you processed and the one from Stuart.

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    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
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    Great capture. I saw one for the first time the other day but he was deep in the reeds. Good job waiting for the action. Cool pose and the leg up adds allot. Well done under challenging conditions.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Whitehead View Post
    Love that pose with the extended neck and raised leg, Miguel. I like the high key look. At ISO 400 the D800 still has a lot of dynamic range and I think you could reprocess this in ACR and really push the shadows slider a long way to the right to open up the detail in the plumage even more. Pulling the highlights well left may tone tone down some of the blown areas.
    Thanks Tony. I overexposed quite a bit and was able to bring this much detail back, but any more and it started to "gray out". When you say to push the shadow slider to the right, do you mean to lighten the shadows? Then would I apply a curves layer in PS to bring back some contrast? The highlights and whites slider are pulled way left at the moment. I can send you the original NEF if you send me your info. I'd be interested in seeing your take on the image!

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    Excellent shot!!!.
    Love the raised foot and the apperent low profile of the bittern. Excellent IQ and great comp.
    Well done.

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    Superb image of this species. Have not seen a lot good images of them. This is a really good one!!!

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