Returning home

[Stu Bowie]

The female Grey Heron was sitting on eggs when the male returned. She became quite excited and began displaying by looking up into the air. The light had just appeared onto the trees, and I have actually reduced some of the yellow cast from the sweet light to show the true colours of the Grey Herons. I decided to leave the cattle egret minding his own business in the LLC.

Canon 1D Mark IV
100-400 @ 400mm
1/2000
F/6.3
ISO 640

Manual exposure

[David Salem]

Great looking shot Stuart. Love the poses on both the male coming in and the female welcoming him. Nice feather detail and clarity. Exposure control looks right on and I like the habitat shown. Well done.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

WOW... All I can say really.

cant believe that cattle egret hung around with all the chaos.

I'm curious... What is this nest based on? Tree top, fence, etc??

[dankearl]

Way Cool Stuart with all three sharp and all in great poses.
The little Egret just looks lost!

[Thinus Schoeman]

Stu, great detail and clarity all round. Super pose as well!

[gail bisson]

Love the action here Stuart. Excellent light and IQ as well.
I would love to see a bit more room on the right hand side of the frame.
I could see a version with the egret evicted!!
Gail

[Satish Ranadive]

Stuart Sir,
Excellent image of herons in habitat with beautiful poses. Great details,beautiful colors and composition.Very nicely balanced by the presence cattle egret.
Love the HA's, crest and loose feathers on the chest.

Regards,
Satish.

[Stu Bowie]

I'm curious... What is this nest based on? Tree top, fence, etc??

Thanks LRB. The nest is based on top of a tree.

Thanks to everyone else for the feedback.

[Stu Bowie]

I would love to see a bit more room on the right hand side of the frame.

Thanks Gail. Unfortunately, I dont have any more room on the RHS. I could try and extend the canvas. My main focus was on the incoming heron, and after downloading, found that the female had been included in the frame as well as the egret, that does fly away a few frames later.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - really nice wide look at the pair and I think of the egret as a bonus. Great incoming flight pose and excellent sharpness throughout.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Another knockout shot Stu, the detail and exposure are excellent, the timing? - well, perfect - well done.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent interaction shot, Stuart. Great as is but as per my personal taste, I would like the Cattle Egret go.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Stuart. I like the setting, sharpness, exposure and the cattle egret adds to the image for me.

[Robert Kimbrell]

Thats just Beautiful Stuart. What great light under that wing. Very nice processing on reducing the yellow cast, the color on the birds looks great.

[Shawn Zierman]

Image quality is excellent. Three subjects well captured with the different poses and action, and great light! That egret looks so small in comparison to the herons. Love this image Stuart.

[Iain Barker]

Amazing Photo Stuart. I love the lighting on the male as it flies in.
I also quite like the Egret being in the shot.

[jack williamson]

Very well exposed, the heron's poses and sharpness are top notch, even the egret is in focus. Excellent work.

Jack

[Petros Petrou]

This is a Great image Stuart. I like the poses of both birds and I even like the Cattle Egret being in the frame! Great light and sharpness. I wouldn't mind if there was some more space in front of the female but this is a perfect image anyway.