White and Dark Morph Reddish Egrets

[Jeannean Ryman]

I realize this isn't the greatest photo (not even close), but liked it because I was able to capture the interaction between a White-morph and Dark-morph Reddish Egret. They chased each other around quite a bit before a stand off was called and each went it's own way. This was captured around 7:15 am just as the sun was coming up. I realize the light angle isn't the best, but they were switching directions like crazy. (I was on the beach while they chased each other in the water.) I bumped my ISO up to 800, shot in manual with -1/3 EV, at 1/2000, f/5.6 on a tripod/gimbal setup. As I said, I like the photo because of the interaction, so was wondering how I could make it better. Your comments, suggestions, and tips are very much appreciated!

[Robert Kimbrell]

Jeannean, This is the kind of interaction, I dream of the night before I go shooting. There is so much to like here, the interacton, the wing spread, a sharp eye, and both in breeding colors. The exposure looks good, The DOF. looks a llittle thin. as the Red does not have quite the sharpness as the white. but i love it.

[Bob Serling]

I love the action. Action shots are the toughest to get with all subjects in focus and you did really well. I'd change the cropping some so the birds aren't dead center. I'd take some off the right and bottom and extend it a bit more on the left if there's more canvas in the original.

[Jeannean Ryman]

Thanks Robert and Bob. You both brought out some other weaknesses the photo has I hadn't considered. Probably would have been best to shoot this at f/8 for greater DOF (the Dark-morph just sort of popped in unexpectedly, so wasn't thinking about DOF, but should have after the first couple of frames) and the comp does need to come out of center. I don't have any more canvas to the right, so I'll try and add some, although the waves create a challenge for me. I'll give it and see how that works. Love having more than one set of eyes to "see" a photo! Thanks a bunch!

[Jeannean Ryman]

Repost adding canvas to the left via content aware and a bit of touch up cloning, plus a bit taken off the bottom.

[Clyde Hopper]

Hello Jeannean, Great action here ! the repost does make for a more interactive shot ,

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Jeannean,

Greetings. I think it's a pretty spectacular shot. The dark morphs head with all the feather contrast could stand a bit of detailing (Topaz InFocus would work great on this). I'd be inclined to go with the OP crop with a bit off the bottom. My taste would be for the pair to be fairly centered with a slightly more panoramic aspect ratio. The repost is not to my liking.

My first thought on looking at this was "Wow!". Good show!

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Jim Thomas]

What a wonderful moment! RP does look better, funny how a little shift can make such a difference.

Jim