Great Egret with Nesting Material

[Blake Shadle]

This image was made a few weeks back out at our Lakeland Rookery. I haven't had many opportunities to be out in the field lately, so this will have to do for now :D

Shooting Solution
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 600 f/4
Manual Exposure, 1/1250 @ f/6.3, ISO 800
Wimberley II head on Gitzo legs, made from the Hooptie Duex

Thanks for looking!

Comments welcome and much appreciated :)

[Steve Maxson]

A stunning pose, Blake. Excellent overall sharpness and great detail in the whites. The non-whites look a bit washed out on my monitor - maybe you could selectively darken those areas to make the image really pop.

[Blake Shadle]

Thanks, Steve! I was actually thinking the same thing. What do you think about this? Are the differences too subtle? I wanted to increase the punch in some of the darker areas but not lose the high key feel of the image.

[Phil Seu]

Blake, super image. i love how the bird is flying towards you

phil seu

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Blake,
Repost is much stronger........As I generally don't like whitish BG's..........this one seems to work extremely well! Must be the super pose. For my tastes........can you get a bit more separation between the top of head and BG?

[Blake Shadle]

can you get a bit more separation between the top of head and BG?

I can definitely give it a try :D

[Jeffrey Sipress]

So elegant, with a great feeling of lightness. Great capture of a fine creature. Exposure is fine with me.

[Adams Serra]

Hey Blake,
Beautiful image, i like the high key look and a good head angle.I dont see any changes on the re-post compared to the original.

Adams Serra

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks, Steve! I was actually thinking the same thing. What do you think about this? Are the differences too subtle? I wanted to increase the punch in some of the darker areas but not lose the high key feel of the image.

Hi Blake. I'd have to say that the changes in the repost are very subtle. For my taste, I would go darker on the face and legs while leaving the rest as is.

[Philip Pietri]

Excellent job, Blake - good full use of the frame and the pose is very powerful. The stick in the mouth was a nice plus. The repost looks good to me.

...Bahlf'd!

[Freddy Franzella]

Really cool looking image Blake! I am not a fan of high key but the image really come to life!

[Maxis Gamez]

Hey Blake,

I almost missed this one. I have to agree with the re-pose. You did well capturing the bird in flight and with a good DOF.

You need to get out more dude!! fight for your rights!! :)

[Blake Shadle]

Hey Blake,

I almost missed this one. I have to agree with the re-pose. You did well capturing the bird in flight and with a good DOF.

You need to get out more dude!! fight for your rights!! :)

I know man! I'm trying to put something together for next weekend... I have to get out or I'm going to go crazy!!! I'll let you know what I'm up to... or let me know if you've got something in mind :)