Egret In Flight

[Barry Ekstrand]

Taken in my neighborhood near Katy, TX in the golden hour at the end of the day. Comments appreciated!

Canon 5D Mark III
Canon 600 mm IS II + EX 1.4x III
840mm, ISO 800, f5.6, 1/1000 sec

[gail bisson]

Hi Barry,
I have looked at this a couple of times and I like it better the more I look at it.
The light is beautiful and I live the Monet-like BG. The little flowers and some nice shapes to the image.
This is an image that would look so much better in a large format.
The BG looks a bit pixelated to me so I would revisit your PP/NR.
I would take a sliver off the LHS as well.
I wish for a slightly different wing position so the head wasn't intersecting with the wing but not a deal breaker.
I like the shadow of the head on the back as well.
Gail

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Barry,

Definitely a new image of a common subject. Well executed! I think Gail touched on some key points, especially the pixelated bg (noticeable in the lower mid to left side and along the entire upper third).

Miguel

[Barry Ekstrand]

Gail and Miguel, thank you for your comments. The BG on this shot has been the most challenging for me in PP that I have come up against and I am not satisfied with it. I had just about given up but decided to post what I had to see if anyone thought there was an redeeming quality in it.

What made this one so tough for me was that I had a nice golden-greenish bokeh across the the middle third (horizontally) of the shot; the top third was also a nice bokeh but the color was brownish from the hill behind; and the bottom third had tall grass mostly in focus. I usually prefer environmental shots but clearly this needed help.

My hope was to replicate the middle band across the top and bottom. I did a bunch of cloning and content-aware spot healing but never could get it as I was envisioning. After awhile those sections of the BG looked overprocessed and I was ready to pitch it and start over. I posted mainly to see if other eyes would verify my view of it or not (and you did) but I also come away encouraged that maybe it is worth further effort to improve it.

I appreciate both of your comments very much.

Barry

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely, artistic image, Barry. Super light and the flowers add a lot. I am seeing a slight halo around most of the bird.