Great Blue Heron

[Andrew Harrell]

I must be getting a little better, as I'm going back through my older shots, and ones that I used to think were really good I'm now seeing all kinds of fatal flaws in them ... at the same time, I'm finding a shot or two that can have edits made to make the picture better than the original ... that's what I think I have here.

Great Blue Heron



Sony A77, Minolta 300mmf4 @ f5.6 and 1/1600, ISO 320

Minor cropping on right side
Small boost to Exposure, big boost to Contrast
Small boosts to Highlights and Shadows

Question: Does all of the mangrove leaves and twigs detract from this scene, or add to it? I have lots of opportunities to get photos of birds resting in the mangroves, but their lower extremities are usually blocked/hidden in parts by the mangroves. But I like showing a bird in their natural environment. So in this example or others "how much is too much?"

C&C appreciated as always.


AP

[Glennie Passier]

Andrew, very nice! Your opening remarks also rings true with me. Older shots that I thought weren't bad are now in the bin....and some have been resurrected, but still hesitant to post here because of the really, really bad techs, particularly with SS and ISOs.

Your heron is quite lovely and he has a "painterly" feel to him. Pose and angle look good. For my taste he seems a little cramped within his frame, and I would be tempted to add a slither across the top. The other thing is the mangrove stick on the RHS. I would try to prune that off,.(I know it's going to get difficult around the leaves) Maybe have a look a FF without cropping the minor bit down the RHS. The mangroves at the bottom of the frame do not bother at all, in fact, I rather like them. They sort of anchor the bird.

I hope to see more of your herons!

[Diane Miller]

What Glennie said. Very nice shot with lovely focus and feather and tonal detail!

I don't mind the mangroves (or other vegetation) as long as you leave room for the virtual feet. It's a common problem. A worse one, to me, is when the feet disappear behind out of focus rocks or sand.

[Anthony Thompson]

I like the image a lot, but can be made a bit better with the suggested changed re: increase head room up the top and the RHS branch needs to go..

Looking forward to seeing the next edit...

[Andrew Harrell]

OK, here is the re-post ...

Took the photo into Photoshop CC and did the following ....

Added canvas at the top
Used the Lasso tool to clone out the branches in the lower right, and some small twigs between the legs.

Hopefully most will find this a bit better ....





AP

[Diane Miller]

OK -- good job! You can also often use the Patch Tool for things like that.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Andrew! Great image! This Heron looks to be a juve? (no white cap yet, etc.) Good separation of head/neck/body. Color looks spot on. For some reason, most of the photos I've seen of herons (mine included), they either look too blue or sometimes even too orange/brown. The RP with extra head-room works well. I may have left a tad more of the mangrove, but elimination of the stick on the LRS is good. TFS!

[Diane Miller]

Good catch from Sandy about leaving more at the bottom. Are you committed to keeping the same aspect ratio as the original post?

[Andrew Harrell]

Sandy: Thanks for the positive feedback! I have other photos of GBHs and they are are exactly as you say -- blue-ish. Well, they have other faults too, but ..... :)

Diane: I think I know what is happening. I did a final small crop, and I'm guessing there is a setting to "keep same aspect ratio" when I do a Crop. I took a little off the added-top, and think it took a little of the bottom at the same time. In answer to your question -- no, not necessarily committed. But if allowing more bottom (not keeping the ratio) .... would that be an issue if I ever went to print?

AP

[Glennie Passier]

Good job on the repost Andrew but have to agree with Sandy about the vegetation on the bottom. I can't help with the print question.

[Diane Miller]

I don't like to constrain an aspect ration until I need to. I'll often crop a master file for composition, for what works with the image, and when I print I'll use that ratio. I cut my own mats and use frames that can be customized to dimensions (www.americanframe.com) so I don't have constraints. If I ever did need to crop to a specific aspect ratio, I'd want as much in the master file as possible, so I wasn't limited ahead of time. And of course different sized prints are slightly different aspect ratios.

I love having virtual copies in Lightroom so I can have different ratios in the cases where I might want them.

There was a recent thread in Out of the Box about this.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ead.php/134291

As to how blue a blue heron should be -- there is nothing that accurate about the white balance captured by the camera. It's often good but not necessarily accurate. Adjust the colors (white balance to start with) to what seems most accurate. Our brains compensate for color casts so it takes some experience and comparison with other images to get it right.