Goliath Heron

[gail bisson]

Canon 1D MKIV
F 4.0 500
SS 1/2000
ISO 400
f 5.6
Almost full frame.
I like this image (even though light quite harsh at 10:35AM in Botswana) because the cormorant gives an idea of scale. These herons are easily a foot taller than our great blue herons.
Had to decrease contrast and brightness significantly and work on the underwing detail with Detail Extractor at 20% for the wing only.
I also replaced the eye as the nictitating membrane was very visible so I used the eye from the next frame.
I wish you all a very Happy New Year and want to thank all of you for your help with my images. I have enjoyed seeing your images as well and the lessons learned from them.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

I do love the sense of scale provided by the cormorant. That is one big heron!


Good work on the eye and underwing detail.

The bright light has made the bokeh of the background a bit harsh. Might consider a very low level surface blur, or subtle noise reduction to tone down the slightly coarse bokeh.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Jobes]

Excellent re-work, Gail, to overcome the challenges of unfriendly light and that pesky nictitating membrane.

From the cormorant's point of view, 'Goliath' is a vast understatement !

[bhavya joshi]

Well timed freeze.. love the action here.. but sorry about Light..:( no worries.. still image come out well.. thanks for sharing..

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, Yep, these Herons are pretty large, and have seen them close up in Kruger. Well timed for the take off, and getting the raised wings. They are showing good detail and sharp. Good job with the eye, and I presume this was from the boat, so great angle of capture.

[Uri First]

excellent capture. loved the cormorant

[Nick Palmieri]

Very well timed shot. My first impression was scale so you certainly achieved that.. wow that is one big heron! Light doesn't bother me and I think you did a nice job with the eye. Happy New year to you as well!

[Grace Scalzo]

Definitely an engaging photo, made complete by the cormorant for scale. Tough light well handled.

[David Salem]

Wow Gail that is a huge Heron. Without the Cormorant for scale you wouldn't be able to appreciate its size. Techs look good and I like the crop. Very cool. Happy New Year and look forward to seeing more of your images. Thanks.

[dankearl]

It is huge!
Nice work in bright light, well worth posting just for the scale of the bird.
The cormorant looks like a sparrow!

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely launch pose, Gail. Cormorant is great as a size reference as they really are impressively large which is hard to appreciate if seen without a frame of reference. Good job on they eye transplant! Have tried a version with some negative tonal contrast and slight desaturation to the BG with about 10% brightness reduction which may be another option to Randy's suggestion for the BG. Harsh light becomes a problem very early sometimes in Africa - good work to extract that underwing detail so well.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot.
Love the take off pose, excellent wing position, great shooting angle, and terrific comp.
Excellent PP work too.
Well done.

[Karl Egressy]

Great take off shot, Gail. The Cormorant in the frame makes it even more interesting.

[Satish Ranadive]

Gail:
Magnificent image.Love the pose with full wings up,nice colors,details and composition.
Rest has been mentioned above.
Wish you Happy New Year too.

Regards,
Satish.