Lunch time!
This Tricolored Heron was "fishing" next to the pool and I was lucky enough to have my camera with me (I think I had it the whole time I was in Florida!)
Canon T3i, Tamron 150 -600, handheld, 400mm, f/6.3, 1/3200, ISO 800. Shadows in LR, further processing in PS CC 2014, minor sharpening
A tasty-looking morsel! Always best to get the sunny side of a subject but not always possible. You did a good job of bringing up the shadows here. That will almost always cause a blue shift, which can be corrected in post. The easy way is to lower saturation on the blues in the HSL panel of raw conversion, and also easy in PS. I don't know the color of this bird that well, but is the beak too blue?
Composition-wise, I could wish the camera had included just a little more on the bottom, but keeping a focus sensor on the right spot outweighs that.
I'd consider cloning out the white rock in the LR corner and the larger specular highlights in the water. Maybe also the tan piece of grass intruding left center. Small nits. Well done!
Thanks Diane. The color on the beak is pretty representative of what I could see with my binos. That is actually the color during breeding season, it is more orange and loses the black tip when not in breeding season according to the illustration in Sibley's guide. I do notice somewhat of a blue cast in the water so I'll give blue saturation a tweak downward and see what that does. I agree about wanting more on the bottom, I had the camera on continuous mode as he was walking briskly with his catch so some of the series had him framed better but then an area of his head was soft or he had turned away. That gives me an idea to check some of the other shots to see if I could layer in more of the lower area to give him a little more room!Originally Posted by Diane Miller
Thanks for pointing out that tan piece of grass, now that I see that I agree that has to go!
Last edited by Warren Spreng; 03-25-2015 at 10:08 PM.
Beautiful bird in an nice pose - I like the outstretched foot and the prey. A lower angle may have worked well here too - but is not always possible.
Thanks Carolyn! I would have liked a lower angle as well, the pool was elevated over the pond so I didn't have the opportunity to change my position. You can imagine the looks I was getting hanging over the fence at the pool with a camera with a 600mm lens attached!
Nice action! Would love to see one of these birds someday. Good detail... just enough separation between the Heron's neck and body to see those cool feathers. (fish doesn't look real happy tho!) Glad to know that you didn't fall over the fence with your gear!
www.mibirdingnetwork.com .... A place for bird and nature lovers in the Great Lakes area.
Thanks Sandy! I have been thinking about a safety rope like mountain climbers use when I take some of these shots!Nice action! Would love to see one of these birds someday. Good detail... just enough separation between the Heron's neck and body to see those cool feathers. (fish doesn't look real happy tho!) Glad to know that you didn't fall over the fence with your gear!
Although it makes handing the camera a little more clumsy, one thing to think about when you are shooting the shady side of a subject, is flash. It will limit your shutter speed unless you set it to high speed sync, and that will limit its power enough that a Better Beamer is usually needed -- but just an idea to have in your arsenal.
Posting Permissions
