Big Blue Close Up

[Robert Holguin]

Hello everyone. A couple of days ago I posted a full body shot of this bold heron. I was able to drive a little closer and get an almost full frame shot.
Sun had already gone down by the time I got to this position.
Cropped a bit from the top rest of the image is full frame.
C&C welcomed and encouraged.
Nikon 300s l Nikon 300 2.8 w/1.7 tc l ISO 800 l 1/125 l F8 l Multi Segment l Manual l On bean bag from car window.

[Satish Ranadive]

Robert:
Magnificent close up you have got.Magical colors, great details and nice curves of neck.I like the eye too.
Very nice composition.A silver line crop on RHS will not harm the image.Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[Norm Dulak]

Beautiful image. The attractive bird is captured beautifully, with great eye contact and against an excellent background. And it is framed nicely.

[gail bisson]

Hi Robert,
This is a nice portrait.
I really like your composition.
Techs look good.
I like how the beak is angled exactly along the line in the BG although some may find it distracting and wish that the head was solidly in the green part.
Gail

[vishaljadhav]

Wonderful potrait of this bird, this bird is very close in terms of looks to the Grey heron we find around in India.
the lovely details and the background are pleasing to the eye.

[Nick Palmieri]

He could not have posed better for you. IQ looks good. I wish the BG wasn't so bright but works as presented.

[Uri First]

nice portrait. i would darken the BG a bit

[Gerald Kelberg]

Nice portrait! Good feather detail, sharp eye and head angle - sharp to the end of the bill.

Maybe you could tone the background down a little, but it doesn't distract from the image for me.

Thanks for sharing.

Gerald

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful shot, I would suggest perhaps increasing contrast on the bill, and or lowering the highlights just a tad, I think this will provide more detail. Just for curiosity I would consider a little noise reduction, whilst I don't think noise is a really problem I suspect the image may benefit from a little judicious application.

[Arthur Morris]

Techs spot on with this young bird. But everyone is missing the boat. You needed to get about 6 inches higher to eliminate the merge of the bird's head with the dark/light line in the BKGR. You have handled one of those always-awkward compositions as well as possible.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Robert, just enough Heron in the frame to create this lovely comp, and with enough space all round. Love the soft light and pastel colours of the BG. I also like the feather detail you have brought out on the Heron.

[dankearl]

You brought out very nice colors and details.
I do see Arthur's point about the head intersection, but very nice IQ.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Nice pose and comp. Lots of details...well exposed. Agree with Artie...the transition line in BG right behind the head is not ideal. Otherwise, wonderfully done.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Excellent eye contact and beautifully composed. The feather detail is excellent too. I agree with Jon re. adding a bit of contrast to give the bird some more pop. Nicely done.

[David Salem]

Nice portrait Robert. Exposed well and lots of beautiful detail. Like the colors and the comp too. Well portrayed and captured.

[Robert Holguin]

Thank you all very much for all the comments and suggestions.
Much appreciated.