Theme: A shady Black-crowned Night Heron

[John Hackney]

7DII, 100-400 II, 1.4 TC III, 560mm, 1/500 ss, ISO 800, f/8, cropped and resized for presentation.

[Randy Stout]

John:

A lovely bird, with great eye, nice pose. A little tight below.

In general, it is hard to make dappled light work, esp. if the background is brighter than the bird. For me, dappled light really works best if the eye/head is illuminated cleanly, and the bg is in general dark enough to not distract from the bird.

Dappled light with these qualities can give a sense of discovery or mystery, as in an owl illuminated by a shaft of light deep in the forest, but it is not an easy thing to pull off.

By all means, keep working it, but just consider how our eyes generally work, we are drawn to the light.

Cheers

Randy

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Very solid critique given by Randy.
Wish you had the feet in full.
Lots of things to like though, there's a ton of detail and the head/eye are super sharp.
Nice work, keep it up!
TFS!

[dankearl]

The bird is sharp as can be, and the light works for me if only some on the face as Randy mentioned.
A bit tight also.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Tough lighting situation you had here. Good stuff by the boys above. Don't forget to use the versatility of your lens by zooming out when needed.

[John Hackney]

Thank you Dan and Daniel.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi John, lovely close up of this fellow, and you managed a good pose. Light conditions mentioned, and pity you are a bit tight below. Seeing all of the near foot would have helped a lot.

You were lucky, as this subject doesnt normally stick around posing for photographers.

[John Hackney]

Hi John, lovely close up of this fellow, and you managed a good pose. Light conditions mentioned, and pity you are a bit tight below. Seeing all of the near foot would have helped a lot.

You were lucky, as this subject doesnt normally stick around posing for photographers.

Thanks Stu, you are so correct on their habits. I was disappointed with cutting the foot off.