Little Blue Heron with breakfast

[Dennis Zaebst]

This was taken at Ding Darling in January. I believe he has bait tossed by a nearby fisherman (not me). Lucky for him!

Canon 1D Mark IV,
AV mode; +1 EV;
No flash
Evaluative metering
ISO 800;
500 mm f/4L IS;
1/250 sec. @ f/13
Gitzo 1320, gimbal head

Processed in LR 4.3. Cropped from a full body portrait to a tight portrait, about 25% of original frame. Black point, clarity adjustments, slight sharpening and NR.

Thanks for any comments or critiques.

[Randy Stout]

Dennis:

I think the comp and exposure is good. The IQ is suffering a bit form the large crop, and you might be able to do a bit more sharpening to help that impression.

Nice eye contact of bird with prey.

Cheers

Randy

[Dennis Zaebst]

Thanks Randy...I added some sharpening to the bird and additional NR to the BG. I also subtracted a couple of other very minor distractions. I hope this is an improvement. Of course, I could back off to a full body portrait, which would be nearly full frame. Let me know if these changes help. Thank you.

[Dennis Zaebst]

And here is the full frame as originally shot.

[Randy Stout]

Dennis:

I prefer the repost. The full frame in #4 is fine, but the shooting angle is steep enough, that I prefer the repost in #3.

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Agree with Randy on Pane #3 being the best but the IQ is still suffering quite a bit b/c of the large crop. The original capture is pretty nice. It's too bad you didn't have the chance to be shooting from a lower angle.

[Dennis Zaebst]

Thank you Marina. Yes, photographing from a lower angle would have been ideal, and is something I have to practice. I appreciate the help.

[PhilCook]

Have to agree with previous comments...but add i do like the clear water as well, makes it a bit more interesting I think

[Daniel Cadieux]

#3 is my choice too, but I too think it is suffering from the large crop. The steep angle is effectively eliminated though! Neat prey item.

[Dennis Zaebst]

#3 is my choice too, but I too think it is suffering from the large crop. The steep angle is effectively eliminated though! Neat prey item.

Thanks Daniel. The steep angle was the original reason I cropped it so heavily. I originally thought it looked pretty good as cropped, but apparently at ISO 800 the Mark IV is not as crop-able as I thought it would be. One of the reasons I bought the really expensive Mark IV was to improve my IQ, but apparently it must have more to do with my post processing than with the camera. I will have to re-evaluate and see if there is anything else I can do. I still have the raw file, and will try some other things. This one was processed entirely in LR 4.3, and perhaps its time to re-evaluate my workflow. Thanks again.