Great Egret with breakfast.

[Scott Turner]

This shot was taken during the early morning light at about 9:45am. My camera settings were Canon 5D MKIII & 500mm F4 + 2xTCIII at 1/1000s F8 ISO1250. I was using a Manfrotto monopod with my left hand resting on the top of the lens for stability. It was set at about kneeling height, while I had my right knee on the ground and my left for stability. No flash used. I have sharpened with Nik and edited mostly in Lightroom. Cropped about 50% of the image to focus specifically on the Egret and the fish. I was shooting with the mindset of ETTR, and just had to decrease the highlights slightly in lightroom and bump the shadows for more even light across the face. I havent used any specific brushes or selective area editing.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated both with my technical set up and my editing. Thanks :)

[Tim Harding]

Nice job capturing the detail on the feathers in what looks like a low-light situation. A little selective highlight recovery on the top of the head might help a bit.

To me there is too much BG in this shot. You might try to tighten the crop on the head even more.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice! I love portraits! I could see taking a little off the top but no big deal.

I'm impressed you could get this sharpness with a monopod. Holding the lens for stability is probably a great help. There is a bit of a noise reduction look to it, but maybe just the way the feathers are. All the specs, shooting and processing, look and sound good to me!

Look forward to seeing more from you!!

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Scott! I LOVE this! Bird, Fish, water droplets and a bit less BG, if possible, as mentioned above: Total AWESOME!

[Scott Turner]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, really appreciate it :)