Juvenile Great Blue Heron

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image of a juvenile Great Blue Heron at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. 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 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1250 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 320, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC
Cropped for composition and presentation, canvas added at the bottom

[Bill Dix]

Great timing. Love the suspended fish. (If only it were facing us.) Fish and most of heron look sharp; area around the face and head a bit less so.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hey Bill, thank you for viewing and commenting. I agree that the head and upper neck area appear less sharp. The heron had just come up out of the water with the fish. I had the camera set on continuous autofocus, single point, with the active point on the eye. I tried sharpening the eye and surrounding area without finding any hard edges. I then used the scales on the fish and the feathers on the lower neck that were dry. I think the bill, head, and upper neck were wet and smooth making them appear soft. I was square to the bird, so all should be on the same focal plane.

P.S. I will be emailing information about Gatorland and Merritt Island NWR soon for your trip this winter.

Thanks again, Bill...

[Geoffrey Montagu]

WOW!, Joseph. Super timing, agree the suspended fish is great. Could what Bill is referring to be the slightest motion blur?


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[William Dickson]

Nice one Joe. Captured at the perfect moment. I reckon a little more shutter speed would have sharpened it up nicely.

Will

[Michael Thompson]

Yeah they have to move their head pretty fast when tossing a fish. Still a cool shot!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.

[Bill Dix]

Hey Bill, thank you for viewing and commenting. I agree that the head and upper neck area appear less sharp. The heron had just come up out of the water with the fish. I had the camera set on continuous autofocus, single point, with the active point on the eye. I tried sharpening the eye and surrounding area without finding any hard edges. I then used the scales on the fish and the feathers on the lower neck that were dry. I think the bill, head, and upper neck were wet and smooth making them appear soft. I was square to the bird, so all should be on the same focal plane.

P.S. I will be emailing information about Gatorland and Merritt Island NWR soon for your trip this winter.

Thanks again, Bill...

Looking forward to it, Joe. I'll let you know when our dates are nailed down.

[Doug Brown]

Good comments above. If you know that the Heron is hunting, you also know that this is a possible shot. I probably would have cranked up the ISO to 800 and gone with a faster shutter speed in preparation for possible action like this. IMO there's no real advantage to shooting at an ISO lower than 400, but there are some obvious disadvantages.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Good comments above. If you know that the Heron is hunting, you also know that this is a possible shot. I probably would have cranked up the ISO to 800 and gone with a faster shutter speed in preparation for possible action like this. IMO there's no real advantage to shooting at an ISO lower than 400, but there are some obvious disadvantages.

Thanks Doug, I appreciate the advise and suggestion. I have taken note and will remember next time.