Those who are familiar with the North Beach Lagoon at Fort DeSoto know this Reddish Egret as Big Red. He has a favorite feeding spot that he flies to each afternoon. The first afternoon we were there, we waited and waited, and finally I got distracted by a pair of mergansers and missed his fly-in. The next evening we waited even longer. He could be seen preening on the far side of the lagoon, and finally just 15 minutes before the sun hit the horizon, he flew to his favorite spot. This time I was ready. I grabbed a number of flight frames, but I liked this moment of touchdown best.
D500, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 2000, 1/2500s @ f/7.1 manual; Gitzo and Mongoose.
Amazing lighting and I can see why he got the name. Very nice feather detail and I love the water splashes. Reflection adds to. Lovely pose. Wished we got birds like this.
Was just in Florida and was really hoping to run into one of these guys but didn't. Hats off on a super landing pose in to die for evening light.
I wonder if as Amanda says if the saturation was lowered a little how that would change the shot? Also looks like the bird could benefit from a little noise reduction.
Thank you all for your comments. Amanda, no saturation was applied to this in PP. Nikon may sometimes exaggerate the red channel a bit, but with the last few minutes of sunshine on the bird, this is the way he appeared to me in the field.
Isaac, I wondered about noise reduction. A tiny amount was applied in the OP, but I didn't want the detail to suffer. Here, I've gone back to the RAW file and started from scratch. This has a tad more NR, probably a little more contrast, and probably a little less sharpening. I can't tell much difference, but I suspect you have a better monitor and maybe you can tell if this is any better, or any worse.
I think I like the original post more. I just did a real quick redo on your file. Looks maybe a tiny bit better I think but hard to tell when working on such a small file. Applied Neat Image to the bird and the water and then smart sharpened at .4 and 75%. Would be far better working on the original. Probably a bit over sharpened now. For what it is worth, hats off to Nikon and the D500. My 7d2 could not touch this image quality at ISO 2000. Staring at your shot makes me really wish I saw and photographed them this time in Florida. Real beauty of a shot you took Bill.
Thanks for taking a look at it, Isaac. I think I was a little timid with the NR on the bird (and if I recall I may have also used a tiny bit of Topaz Detail which probably counteracted the NR). Your redo, although oversharpened as you point out, does seem better with regard to the noise. I'll go back and take one more look. I appreciate your help and comments. Sorry you missed them in Florida.