Black Crowned Night Heron

[Girish Prahalad]

From the backwaters of Kabini river, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve.
Made with a Canon 450D + Sigma 150-500. Handheld from a moving boat.
F 6.3 / ISO 400 / SS 1/800 @ 500 mm. Av Mode / Eval
Levels / Crop / USM / NR on BG.

Comments & critiques most welcome.

[Randy Stout]

Girish:

sharp, well exposed,nice color pallette and great eye.

Because of the high contrast, I would clean up the white wash on the trunk.

Cheers

Randy

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the perch, sharpness, red eye and composition. I keep wanting to even out the black at the top of the image. Good suggestions by Randy. Nice image Girish.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Girish, lovely eye level perspective from your boat, and just love the overall detail you managed to bring out on the heron and 'perch'. Perfect eye. Light looks soft, and if this were mine, I would blend away the darker area on top, or crop away a tiny bit to minimise it. Well captured. Im surprised he didnt fly as you sailed by.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Fine image. Great exposure and comp. Might remove the bright spot in the ULC.

[mohammad reza shahab]

Great sharpness,exposure and composition.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Excellent, love the head turn, red eye and sharpness. I agree on blending darker area and removing whites on the perch.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I would definitely eliminate the whitewash and the bright spot along the dark band above. Other than that the image rocks! Love the hunched pose by the heron, and the lichen-covered log is very nice. I could go for a version with the subject a bit more to the left, but not too much more.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot.
I love the perch, terrific lighting, great pose, very nice background, and great comp.
Well done.

[Shawn Zierman]

Light quality is excellent. Colors are vibrant without being oversaturated. Details are smartly sharpened. My suggestions were covered well in the posts above. Very nice image sir.

[gail bisson]

Agree with the above suggestions re : the whitewash and the black band at the top.
Nice image,
Gail

[Girish Prahalad]

Thanks all for your feedback!. Will work on an other version with your suggestions.

[shane shacaluga]

Lovely looking image!

You continually put to shame all those reviews I read about that sigma lens not being sharp!!!

The whitewash looks pretty recent too hahaha was it lightening the load to ensure a quick getaway if you got any closer?

TFS

[Girish Prahalad]

Hi Girish, lovely eye level perspective from your boat, and just love the overall detail you managed to bring out on the heron and 'perch'. Perfect eye. Light looks soft, and if this were mine, I would blend away the darker area on top, or crop away a tiny bit to minimise it. Well captured. Im surprised he didnt fly as you sailed by.

Hi Stuart,

This was on a boat safari in the Reserve & these birds are used to the mild tourist traffic that goes on in their domain.

[Girish Prahalad]

Lovely looking image!

You continually put to shame all those reviews I read about that sigma lens not being sharp!!!

The whitewash looks pretty recent too hahaha was it lightening the load to ensure a quick getaway if you got any closer?

TFS

Hi Shane,

Thanks for your kind words. He / she was in no mood for a getaway. It was still there on the same perch even when
we were on our way back. Unfortunately, couldn't make any images then as the light was pretty low for my rig to handle.