I captured this image at the alligator breeding pond rookery in Gatorland, Orlando, Florida, last February. A Great Egret with breeding colors on the lore preening while looking at me. 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 340mm
1/2000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering -2/3 EV ISO 200 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC 2017
Cropped for composition and presentation
Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 08-20-2017 at 07:34 PM.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
I think I would have preferred the head & bill to have been in front rather than behind Joe. Why the shallow DoF, you had plenty of ISO to increase DoF here? To me the whites look a bit cool, have you tried upping the Temp & Tint, it may help, likewise dropping or burning some of the Highlight areas on the neck. I do like the dark backdrop, provides a good standout, especially in the finer plumage.
I really like the dark BG. It really plays well against the green lores, yellow eye and white feathers.
I too, am wondering why you were shooting at ISO 200 and at F 5.6. I would have been at ISO 1250-1600 and F 10 for this tight shot. You would have gotten a bit more of the neck in focus.
Oh well, it is so easy to be an armchair critic!!
I love the eye and the light here.
Nice shot,
Gail
I like the concept. Yes to more depth of field for this type of close up, and a bit more room right and bottom IMO. I love the raised feathers at top, and good details of the face!
Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.
Steve and Gail, I checked the depth of field with a calculator online. Using my Nikon D7000 at 350mm at a distance of 5.01 meters (about 16 feet) aperture F/11 the depth of field would have increased by 1.5 inches (0.75 inches forward and back of the point of focus). Not a great amount and the lower ISO gives a cleaner image to work with. Thanks again, I appreciated you taking time to comment and suggest ways to improve.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Here is a new workup of this image. I change the crop, burned and lowered the highlights on the neck to squeeze more detail there, and set the whites so in most areas the RBG values would be the same.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams