Great Blue Heron

[Joseph Przybyla]

Dottie and I went to Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida yesterday morning. I captured this take off image of a Great Blue Heron, a long wait for the bird to fly but finally it did. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 120mm (180mm FFE)
1/1250 F/8 Matrix Metering +1 EV ISO 1000 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Doug Brown]

Good sharpness and nice pose. I'm not sure if you cropped, but I'd like to see a bit more room on the top, bottom and right.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Doug, thank you for viewing and commenting. The image was rotated and cropped. I saw the heron land on the top of the small tree, move close and began capturing images. I knew it would fly so I zoomed out allowing room on the top and right for the bird to fly into. After waiting what seemed like a long time it took flight, but instead of flying up and right it went towards the ground and marsh. Landing a short distance away. Because I didn't want the bird flying towards the ground I rotated the image which then made finding room at the bottom difficult without trying to add canvas matching the small tree. I worked up the image again saving as much room at the bottom as possible without adding canvas there. I added canvas on the top and right sides. Here is a repost of the image.

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous! Nice to get it just launching. I love the detail on the near wing. There is a slight green cast, probably from reflected light off vegetation, but worth a look at reducing it for comparison.

It's a small point, and one I find common the herons, that the small head is often a bit too insignificant. I wonder if it could use some localized work, maybe a little darkening with a curve. Do I see some gray in the whites just below the eye?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great pose, and it looks like you had some nice light. My first thought was the comp's tightness and the repost is exactly what I was hoping for. I think it would be worth adding a point or two of reds to the overall color balance for that subtle greenish cast that Diane mentions. Well done overall.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joe, nailing a take off always produces the goods, and you timed this perfectly. Love the forward launch pose, and glad the head is separated from the far wing. Your repost rocks with regards to space.