Great Blue Heron

[Daniel Cadieux]

I was pretty happy that this adult Great Blue Heron in breeding plumage did not fly away, as they usually do from afar (the juveniles tend to tolerate human presence a lot better). Still lots of snow, and this made for a wintry image of this beautiful species...

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/500s., f/7.1, ISO 400, natural light, handheld, slight CCW rotation, a small out of place rock in the water removed via content aware. I tried a version without the branches above but liked it better with them in.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice breeding plumage bird.
The snowy surrounding is very unique for this species.
The little twig at the left top corner is a nice touch.
Nice composition and a nice image, Daniel.

[John Robinson]

So pleased you left the twig in Dan ! Love it. Wonderfully soft but full of detail (Sounds daft I know.)
Great atmospheric job anyway.
John

[Alison McCoy]

Beautiful image, great details. Love seeing this species in the snow. The blues of the bird blend nicely with the blues in the bg.

[arash_hazeghi]

never seen one with snow! excellent portrait Dan

[shane shacaluga]

Lots of details and points of interest in this image Daniel. Looks like a Sentry Guard on duty

Like the low POV, detail on the plumage and "beard" and the toenail pointing out from the rock perch

TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful bird, nicely shown. I never thought I would see a GBH in the ice and snow, go figure. I might be inclined to remove the branch in the upper left, but then it add to the bleak, winter feel of the image. Lovely breeding plumage. Thank you for sharing.

[Satish Ranadive]

I love the atmosphere in the frame with beautiful cool colors and complimentary to his colors, great details and superb composition.
Above all his well trimmed beard looks fantastic.
....Marvelous image.

Regards,
Satish.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Daniel! I like the setting, IQ, details, exposure and composition. I had one come through last week but has already moved on.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Daniel , simply very nice work . For me the twigs have to go .

TFS Andreas

[William Dickson]

Hi Dan Fab image. love it, The bird is lovely, the perch is amazin. Great work and thanks for sharing

Will

Keep the twigs

[mohammad reza shahab]

Excellent pose,low POV and composition.

[adrian dancy]

Superb image Daniel. Good detail, colours and pose. The snowy habitat is to die for and the twigs upper left are a must anchoring the bird to a riparian location IMHO.

[David Salem]

I sure don't associate these guys with the snow so pretty cool there, literally. I like the pose and the subtle colors in this sweet frame. The twig really look nice also.. Well done Daniel