Hi-key Heron

[Bill Dix]

Tri-colored Heron, taken at Ding Darling in November, just before the rising sun lit up his patch of water.

D7000, 700mm, ISO 800, 1/1000s @ f/6.3 manual

[Mike Milicia]

Very nice, Bill! Perfect pose and head angle for this.

Only thing I might suggest is to move the bird a bit more to the left in the frame.

[Arthur Morris]

Very, very loverly. As above or crop from the left. If you want to make this even better/digital art you can solidfy the eye and the missing part of the bill both in the REFL.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Mike and Artie. Yes, I suppose a bit off the left would help. This is just about full-frame except for a bit of rotation. I did very little to the image except to rotate and adjust the exposure in RAW transfer. (The latter created some noise resulting from underexposure, so I was afraid any significant cropping might make that more evident.) Artie, I did consider cleaning up the reflection, but decided to leave the imperfections to show that it was, in fact, a reflection. After all, if I wanted digital art on this one I suppose I might have just mirrored the upper part of the image. But yes, I'll grant that there is a middle ground involving just a bit of selective clean-up. I'll go back and play with it. Thanks for your comments.

[gail bisson]

Hi Bill,
The thumbnail doesn't do this justice.
I like the comp as is. The body angle and HA are excellent.
I like the cool tones from the pre-sunrise light but could also see this warmed up a bit.
Good IQ and love that still water and the blue wake around the legs,
Gail

[Nick Palmieri]

Really like the high key presentation and very nice detail in the bird. This one is very nice!

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent high key image, Bill. The composition looks right but Mike's suggestion would improve it. Love the reflection and the little blue on the water around the legs.

[PhilCook]

A work of art Bill....wonderful in every aspect and particularly like the beak/water connection.

[Troy Lim]

Lovely image, it makes the bird pops. Reflection is a big plus!

[Hayath Mohammed]

Lovely execution here! The clean reflection and colors work well.
IMHO the purple/blue just below the breastbone on the water can be desaturated..makes my eye believe there's some CA there

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bill, even without the sweet light reaching the Heron, you have brought out the different hues nicely. Good low perspective, and I do like the high key BG. Another vote for taking a bit off the LHS.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks everyone. I always appreciate the comments.

[Sachin Saraf]

This is wonderful capture Bill...Love the details and exposure...

[supreet.sahoo]

A bit too centered as everyone has already mentioned. The cream on the cake here for me is the reflection, simply beautiful. The high key and low angle has worked perfectly.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful shot.

[Uri First]

just a beautiful image with a great edition of the birds colour

[Bill Dix]

Thanks again, everyone. I finally got back to this one. I've moved the bird slightly to the left per popular demand, cropped just slightly, and at Artie's suggestion I've tweaked the eye and bill in the reflection, but not so much as to make them look perfect. Per Gail's suggestion I've added just a few percentage points of a warming filter. And several other tiny tweaks. I'm always grateful for such helpful comments.

[Arthur Morris]

The original was great. The repost is far better :) Way too go.

[Bill Dix]

The original was great. The repost is far better :) Way too go.

Thanks Artie. Your insight is always appreciated.