Egret Bliss

[Scott Turner]

This shot was of another Eastern Great Egret basking in the warmth of the early morning sun, dipping it's head in, hoping for something to eat. I was standing up to my knee's in water (keeping in mind I am 6"7' for reference haha) that was slowly moving against me. For support I was using a Manfrotto monopod underneath my 500mm which was fully extended equal to almost my height.

Shot on a Canon 5DMKIII & 500mm F4 + 1.4xTCIII
with the settings of 1/800s @f5.6 ISO320

The time of day of the shot was about 9:30am in Sydney and I had already been out there for nearly 2 hours shooting away. The weather itself was great. A crisp cool morning of about 10.C with some very small cloud cover but was gone by the time I shot this image.
For editing I haven't done much. The sun was creating that amazing yellow warm glow around the Eastern Great Egret and the reeds. I did the usual Nix sharpening and Denoise with Topaz and slight highlight and shadow adjustments. Minor cloning was done to some distracting water reflections but that's about it.

[Diane Miller]

A nice catch -- it looks like it's having fun spraying water.

I'd consider cropping up from the bottom about halfway to the bird. It's small in the frame but if you cropped from the sides you'd loose the spray of water and the light reflections that frame the bird very nicely.

[Luis Patacao]

Perhaps a 16:9 crop might help to cut the lower part and maintain the water spray.

[Scott Turner]

That's what I was thinking Luis, thanks for confirming it :)

[Arthur Morris]

Interesting image. I love your design. As noted, a small crop from the bottom would strengthen it. I love the spray of water droplets and the turn of the head. Welcome and thanks for your membership support!