Great Egret

[Diane Miller]

Shot this at our local rookery yesterday morning. There are fewer birds this year, especially the Greats -- a result of our drought?

Canon 7D2, 100-400 II at 321mm, ISO 800, f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, M exposure, HH. Some soft hazy clouds to the east, softening the early light. I love being able to zoom as they come closer. About a 50% crop with some off the top and left. I could do better to keep them centered in the frame.

Basic adjustments in LR5 then into PS CS6 for some slight NR (hardly needed), very slight touch of Detail Extractor and a "just barely there" luminosity mask to bring out a little detail in the front-lighted whites. Darkened the head and beak a little. The legs are "black" but they must be shiny -- the shaded parts are pure black but I was surprised how gray they look in this light.

I'm tempted to add canvas on the left and add some artistic tree branches.

[William Dickson]

Very nice image Diane, the whites look real lovely against the BG colour. Nice and sharp, its just a pity the bird never turned its head back towards us. Thanks for sharing

Will

[John Robinson]

I am sure your suggestion of a few trees and bit more canvas would work fine.
Head position a bit of a shame but never mind.
John

[Randy Stout]

Diane

Beautifully exposed, sharp, love the feet.

Agree about the turned away pose, not quite as engaging.

To my eyes the line along the lower edge of the neck looks a bit too distinct, perhaps a result of the masking? Gives it an almost cut out look on my monitor.

Cheers

Randy

[Diane Miller]

Thanks guys -- agree about the head turn but these birds are intently focused on the nests they are heading to and oblivious to the humans below. I've never seen them give anyone a glance, unlike the osprey at another nearby location, who circle and glare. It's an older neighborhood with car and foot traffic -- everybody wonders why they nest there. And the trees are just plain ugly. Here's an artistic version with a little more interest, but the only halfway attractive branch I could find was in deep shade.

And unfortunately the areas where they feed are mostly inaccessible.

I thought about lightening the dark line under the neck but it was there in the raw file -- just a quirk of light and less than perfect lens and sensor. Even though dark areas were lightened in processing, it should be further mitigated, though -- I agree.