Cattle Egret Squawking

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created on the May 14 Gatorland In-the-Field Meet-up session with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the rugged, blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/6.3. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -1. One row up and one to the right of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was just to the right of the bird’s eye.

Learn more about the creation of this image in the Cattle Egret Surprise, Two Great Subject/Background Combos, and An Exposure Question blog post here. Orlando and other locals can visit the blog for details on joining me for this coming weekend's Gatorland meet-up.

As for the image, don't be shy; all honest comments and critiques are welcome. With love, artie

[Michael Thompson]

Beautiful profile of this Cattle Egret! who knew they could be this colorful? Stunning color, whites, feather detail, that eye, wow, the open beak, framed by a nice dark background. it all came together here! well done!

[Isaac Grant]

Love the intense stare, those vibrant colors and the open beak. Set off perfectly by the white whites and dark background. If being super picky I think a bit more depth of field would have helped as the back of the crest is a bit soft. Unless that is motion blur from wind in which case it is hard to stop on such tiny feathers. I could see a version with more room on top. Again being crazy picky with those comments as I would be thrilled to have a shot like this of this species.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Artie, like the 'funky' portrait, with the HA slightly turned towards you and the open bill it just works. The 'mohican/punk' hairdo is nicely off set against the black backdrop. Personally I might have popped luminosity layer along the bill, especially towards the eye to get some more tonal depth, but...

Question: would a flash have helped here to 'kill' the background and achieve the dark backdrop as presented. Not a great lover of flash, or have a good skill set, trying to build on that at present, so just looking at ETTL of HSS which I do like.

TFS
Steve

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie, like the 'funky' portrait, with the HA slightly turned towards you and the open bill it just works. The 'mohican/punk' hairdo is nicely off set against the black backdrop. Personally I might have popped luminosity layer along the bill, especially towards the eye to get some more tonal depth, but...

Question: would a flash have helped here to 'kill' the background and achieve the dark backdrop as presented. Not a great lover of flash, or have a good skill set, trying to build on that at present, so just looking at ETTL of HSS which I do like.

TFS
Steve

There is a flash technique that can do that when the BKGR is not shaded but no need for it when it is shaded and the sun is out ...

How does one go about "popping the luminosity"? I have never done that. Did you see the bill clean-up on the blog? With love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

Love the intense stare, those vibrant colors and the open beak. Set off perfectly by the white whites and dark background. If being super picky I think a bit more depth of field would have helped as the back of the crest is a bit soft. Unless that is motion blur from wind in which case it is hard to stop on such tiny feathers. I could see a version with more room on top. Again being crazy picky with those comments as I would be thrilled to have a shot like this of this species.

Yes to super picky :) I have been focusing on the bird's eye for 33 years and to heck with the rest. No need to change now unless the bird is close to MFD, as with the Arctic Tern head shot here.

With love, artie

ps: your "Little Stint" was just another Sanderling; sad but true.

[Arthur Morris]

Beautiful profile of this Cattle Egret! who knew they could be this colorful? Stunning color, whites, feather detail, that eye, wow, the open beak, framed by a nice dark background. it all came together here! well done!

Thank you MT. If you are familiar with this species in Africa I do not think that they get anywhere near this bright. But they can have a ton more buff feathers ...

with love, artie

[Isaac Grant]

Yeah I realized that it was a Sanderling the second he posted the second pic. I responded when he posted the other pic.

With regards to the depth of field is it something that you don't worry about in a situation like that? Just get the eye unless at minimum focus distance?

[William Dickson]

Wow this is something else. That dark BG shows the bird so well. Love the HA and colours throughout.

Will

[gail bisson]

This is really nice Artie. I am impressed with the DOF you achieved at 6.3.
Whites look great and perfect HA.
I love black BG's so this image ticks all the boxes for me!
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

Yeah I realized that it was a Sanderling the second he posted the second pic. I responded when he posted the other pic.

With regards to the depth of field is it something that you don't worry about in a situation like that? Just get the eye unless at minimum focus distance?

That is correct, at or close to MFD ... If the bird's head and bill are pretty parallel to the back of the camera or if the background is proximal to the subject or if the light is very low I will not stop down much than 1/3 stop if at all. Give me the eye very sharp and I am loving it.

[Bob Smith]

Further to my comments on bill clean-up on my blue heron post I really like the job you've done with that here Arthur.This image cries out for the pure, CLEAN expanse of rich colour in the beak. Much to be learned from the Master.

[Alex Becker]

Most everything has been said already but love the colors, detail, wacky hair, and BG here. Whites / exposure look great. The bill clean up is well-done and really serves the image. Interesting to hear people's thoughts on DOF here . TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

love the pose and the colors Artie. the white stands out against dark nicely