Great Blue Heron

[Clyde Hopper]

It's hard for me to pass by a Great Blue Heron ,and not take the shot. I would love to hear your thoughts on this one .

[Ian Cassell]

Hi Clyde. I agree as I am constantly adding GBH images to my archive. Your exposure is good and the backlighting on the bird's neck is interesting. I have a couple of thoughts on this one. First, I find the background far too busy. It would help if you posted your techs, but a bit of selective blur on the BG would help a great deal. I find that dark bush on the viewer's left keeps pulling my eye and a different crop might work here. Also, the bird is looking slightly away from you. It would be much more captivating if the head-turn was slightly in the viewer's direction as well.

[jack williamson]

The exposure looks good, the bird is facing away from you so I think that the head is out of the dof, it is a little soft. I will try a noise of some sort in this situation to try to get the bird to look in my direction.

Jack

[Bill Jobes]

I agree, Clyde, on herons being hard to pass up.

I could offer a much more critical critique if I knew your exif data, which includes camera, lens, shutter speed, F/stop, ISO, white balance settings and whether you used any exposure compensation. Light conditions and distance from the subject are also good to know.

Composition is good, though if it were my photo, I'd trim some from the left side.

There's a chance your gear is front-focussing, as the blades of grass closer to the sensor appear to be more sharp than the bird itself.

That would be the case if you nailed the focus point on the heron. But if you accidentally pressed the shutter when the grass in front was in focus, well, then, the gear is working well.

If you get the chance, please post the tech specs for the image, and I'll be happy to re-visit my observations.

[gail bisson]

Hello Clyde,
I have a few suggestions to make:
The virtual legs have been cut off by the bottom of the frame so if you have more room down below I would include it.
I would decrease the contrast of the image.
The BG is very busy and I would clone out the reed intersecting with the bill and blur the BG a bit and reduce the brightness on the BG. Over time I have learned to pay as much attention to the BG and the bird.!
It would be great for you to include your EXIF data,
Gail

[Clyde Hopper]

Thanks for the Critiques ,Ian, Jack, and Bill . About the Exif data....This is a three shot HDR ,of 2 stops ,Again thanks for all the pointers !

[Clyde Hopper]

Hello Clyde,
I have a few suggestions to make:
The virtual legs have been cut off by the bottom of the frame so if you have more room down below I would include it.
I would decrease the contrast of the image.
The BG is very busy and I would clone out the reed intersecting with the bill and blur the BG a bit and reduce the brightness on the BG. Over time I have learned to pay as much attention to the BG and the bird.!
It would be great for you to include your EXIF data,
Gail

Hi Gail ,we both must have typed at the same time , Thanks for all the help .