Blackheaded Heron

[Gabriela Plesea]

At first I thought this was a Grey Heron but later discovered it was in fact a Blackheaded Heron. Image taken in the Kalahari at Leeudril waterhole.

Nikon 500 F4
Nikon D3S
ISO 500
1/3200s
F 6.3

Minor adjustments in LR and then CS6. No cloning, no layers, no masks, I did crop a bit, then only a tad of sharpening.
Comments and critique welcome, I am wondering whether I should have added more canvas at the top.

Kind regards,

[keith mitchell]

Gabriela just a little bit more at the top then it looks perfect IMO ,you really have caught the action.

Keith.

[Barry Ekstrand]

I like the angle / pose here - not the conventional view but a nice full view of the back and wing spread. A good capture in my book against the bright sky - the deepest blacks lack detail on my monitor, I'm not sure if you can recover any more or not. On the canvas, I would add some on top as you mention.

Barry

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely flight pose and nice details in those top feathers. I'd like to see more space around the bird.

[Robert Kimbrell]

I really like pose. A beautiful bird and great wing spread. I also find the blacks a little too dark, but it's a nice shot.

[Alan Murphy]

I like the comp on this wonderful top shot.

[David Salem]

Nice looking flight shot Gabriela. The feather detail looks great and I like the pose with all the feathers extended. Nice exposure also and the bird looks well lit.. Nice work.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriella, I like the angle and curve/splayed wings, but I feel the focus point is in the body, so the head doesn't look as sharp, WDYT? I wonder if a bit more DOF might have helped as you had more ISO to hand. A difficult shot to pull off and you did very well.

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

I thank you all for your comments, much appreciated.

This is one image I did not put much effort into, just cropped from the bottom, adjusted exposure, a bit of contrast and then sharpened before posting. I do not have a specific workflow, I do what I feel must be done for a particular image, and in this case I was quite happy with the outcome. Yep, Steve is right, as I look at the image now I see I could sharpen the head a tad more. I guess I was so taken with the wings, so happy to see no blur, that nothing else mattered. I think there is little chance to get more detail in the neck (Barry, those deepest blacks are IMO beyond fixing). I guess I'd better go look for another one, there are plenty where this came from

Thank you all, once again, for viewing and taking the time to comment

Warmest regards,