Tricolor Heron in Breeding Plumage

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Hi All,

This image was created at Gatorland Mini IPT. Slightly less than ideal head angle and bit bright lighting.

I like the clean background and green plant at the bottom. I wish I had stopped down to get more depth of field.

Let me know your thoughts, comments and critiques.

Thank you for watching


Gear Used:-
Nikon D500, 500mm f/4

ISO 800, f/4, 1/4000 sec
Matrix Metering, Manual Mode.


Post Processing:-
Neat Image - Noise Reduction
FastRawViewer - Exposure change
Lightroom - Further Exposure Adjustments
Nik - Detail Extractor (lowered Opacity)

[Doug Brown]

Hi Krishna. Nice working with you a few minutes ago! Your self-critique is spot on; not enough DOF. Otherwise it's a very nice frame; I like the OOF vegetation. I do think you could back off on the sharpening of the bird's head though.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Hi Krishna. Nice working with you a few minutes ago! Your self-critique is spot on; not enough DOF. Otherwise it's a very nice frame; I like the OOF vegetation. I do think you could back off on the sharpening of the bird's head though.

It was awesome to speak with you. Thank you for the detailed explanation.

I will try to back off the sharpening going forward.

I always resize the image and go for unsharp mask with some standard values

Amount - 120
Radius - 0.5

Shadow
Fade - 20
Tonal width - 50
Radius 1

Highlights
Fade 0
Tonal width - 50
Radius - 0

Going forward, I will try to change in them rather than being lazy and using the standard values which I though would work for every image :-)

Thank you

[Doug Brown]

I always sharpen after I resize the image for its intended purpose. If the image is sharp out of the camera, I tend to use USM with an amount ranging from 60-70 and a radius of 0.4 or 0.5. I will often create another layer for selective sharpening of the bird; I duplicate the sharpened bird, apply additional sharpening (40-50) with a similar radius, give the layer a black mask, and paint the areas I want to selectively sharpen with a white brush.

[Lorant Voros]

Nice colors and comp. I'd prefer more DOF and less sharpening. TFS.

[Glenn Conlan]

Very nice except for the sharpening