Great Blue Heron and Catfish

[Daniel Grossi]

I wasn't prepared for this shot, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

D500
Nikkor 600mm f/4e FL
1/400
f/4
ISO-800
Spot Metering

Cleveland, Ohio
May 2017
Cool and very overcast a few hours after sunrise.

[Juan Tolentino]

Good image Daniel, a couple frames before would've been better, but you said you wasn't expecting it. I find the background a little distracting specially the tree crossing the fish, not a deal breaker. Also, in my phone screen looks like you need to increase contrast on the bird, easy fix. Thank you for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Michael Thompson]

I like it! the head and the speared bullhead and nice and sharp. especially good for 1/400!! maybe clone out the out of focus black blotches in the background and pull back on the purple or blue saturation in the wing.

[Jonathan Ashton]

A very eye catching shot, I would suggest lowering the brightness/highlights on the heron would help improve contrast on the heron. The background would be an easy fix if you were so inclined. A fster shutter speed would have been beneficial but it is of course dead easy to be wise after the event.

[Arthur Morris]

Fabulous pose. I'm with Jon in believing that the bird is too bright and too contrasty ...

with love, artie

[Daniel Grossi]

Good image Daniel, a couple frames before would've been better, but you said you wasn't expecting it. I find the background a little distracting specially the tree crossing the fish, not a deal breaker. Also, in my phone screen looks like you need to increase contrast on the bird, easy fix. Thank you for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks Juan! As you can see in my settings I really over exposed this one. I started working on a portrait of his face and then this happened. I do have a clean shot a few frames earlier that's exposed pretty well and his wings are in a better positions. I chose this one however because I liked the full body view of the catfish.

[Daniel Grossi]

I like it! the head and the speared bullhead and nice and sharp. especially good for 1/400!! maybe clone out the out of focus black blotches in the background and pull back on the purple or blue saturation in the wing.

Thanks Michael! I was really stumbling through settings as this was happening. I was stoked to see I had some sharp ones at 1/400!

[Daniel Grossi]

A very eye catching shot, I would suggest lowering the brightness/highlights on the heron would help improve contrast on the heron. The background would be an easy fix if you were so inclined. A fster shutter speed would have been beneficial but it is of course dead easy to be wise after the event.

Thanks Johnathan! I'm going to revisit this in LR/PS later this evening and try to improve his contrast.

[Daniel Grossi]

Fabulous pose. I'm with Jon in believing that the bird is too bright and too contrasty ...

with love, artie

Thanks Arthur! I was cranking down my shutter and such patiently waiting on a good head portrait when this happened. I'm going to give it a second go in LR/PS and try to improve his contrast.

[Daniel Grossi]

Here's the result after everyone's input.