Little Blue Heron

[Walker Noe]

Here is a Little Blue Heron shot in Costa Maya. Got tons of frames of this guy catching fish. Shot from the sea looking towards land. I couldn't get lower because there was a row of shacks behind the bird on the beach which would have ruined the background.

D7100 (not 1.3 crop mode), 300mm f4, SS 1/1000, f4, ISO 110, handheld.

PP-Slight crop, contrast, clarity, shadows, USM on bird @ 70%, threshold 3 levels, pixel size .9.

Thanks for looking and as always, any critique is appreciated.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great setting for this fella, with a very neat BG and a fantastic perch. I do wish for more room top and right (if you have it). A better head angle towards us would have been great and that would have nicely lit the eye and lores too. Perfect exposure, and the details look great. Excellent view of the feet, I like the overlapping toes.

[Marina Scarr]

Killer BG and perch and the bird looks pretty good too. I wish for some more room up top and right. Love seeing the feet so well.

[Diane Miller]

This reminds me of an Audubon illustration! I might tone down the blue in the LR corner -- it pulls my eye more than I like.

[Walker Noe]

Here is an RP--full frame and slightly different processing.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The repost has a much stronger flow and balance to the composition.