Sunbathing Grey Heron

[Iain Barker]

I came across the Grey Heron sunning itself in what I think is an unusual pose.
I'm keen to hear peoples thoughts especially on the background as most shots on here have very clean backgrounds.

Nikon D7000, 300mm f4 af + 1.4x convertor. 1/1000 f5.6 ISO 400

Crop, levels and sharpening in Lightroom.

[Jerry amEnde]

Can't comment on the technical aspects of the shot, but I noticed a heron with this pose earlier this year. After posting the shot, I was told it's called the "Buddha Pose" Googling "Heron Buddha Pose", I found out it was more common than I thought.

...Jerry

[LinzRiverBalmer]

very neat and I've never seen this pose, very interesting.

the bird looks good, like the composition, would perhaps take a bit more off the Left side.

I like the bottom with the green sludge and think the background could work if it was softened up or muted enough to not distract from the birds face. I don't mind busy backgrounds but this is a little too bright, not busy just bright so you really have to look for the face on the bird.

The feathers on the chest look like they might be blown whites but I'm not an expert there.

[Diane Miller]

I've photographed Great Egrets in this pose in northern CA. No idea what the purpose is but they were turned to the sun, maybe just warming themselves.

I assume this was RAW file, and since it was processed in LR I wonder if you took full advantage of the shadows and Highlights sliders (combined with tweaking Exposure if needed) to reduce contrast. That and a tweak of White Balance toward the cool side might tone down the BG quite a bit and bring down the highlights on the bird.

The Histogram is key in assessing shadows and highlights.

[gail bisson]

I just saw this pose for the first time last week. How coincidental that you posted this!
Obviously I like the pose and nice HA.
There are a couple of problems with this image. The first is that the whites are blown on the belly and under the chin. I would go back to the raw, reduce the exposure and use the highlight slider to see what you can recover. You can also try Detail Extractor in NIK EFEX if you have it.
I would also select the BG and decrease the brightness. I do not find the BG too busy- just a bit bright.
I might also take a sliver off the left and right for composition.
TFS,
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

I've seen a few do this too...I always find they look like shady characters flashing the inside of their long coats trying to sell counterfeit watches . You've had some good suggestions on how to deal with the bright subject. The light quality looks a bit harsh...too bad you did not find this fella in early or late light (or overcast conditions).

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Iain, a pose that I havent witnessed before, so well done on getting the moment. A few things I picked up - I felt the heron had a yellow cast, so Ive reduced that. I also toned down the BG by desaturating the yellows a touch, and ran a multiply blending mode at 22%. Here is my version - hope you dont mind.

[Iain Barker]

Thanks for all the comments. Most seem to suggest the same that toning down the background would be an improvement.
I agree with this and think Stuarts repost is an improvement on my OP. Thanks for taking the time to do that Stuart and I don't mind at all. I will have a go at the suggested improvements.
When the picture was taken it was around midday and I mistakenly had the highlight warning turned off, so although the histogram looked ok the chest and white wing area were burnt out. Stuart you seem to have recovered the the highlights better than I had been able to is it the multiply blending that did that as it is not something I have tried before?

[Iain Barker]

Here's my repost with the background toned down and a slightly tighter crop.
I still can't quite get the detail in the blown highlights Stuart manged.

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions.

[christopher galeski]

Never seen this pose with Herons before,thanks for showing it,like Stuart's repost,and your repost is better than the first.thanks again for showing.