Black-crowned Night-heron.

[gail bisson]

Time to give Canon some love!! A BIF taken with Canon gear!
Canon 1 DX 600mm and 1.4x
ISO 2500 F 5.6 SS 1/2000
Taken at Venice Rookery as he flew out of the bushes. April 2018. Cloudy conditions.
This is about 65% FF and I am pleased with the surprisingly good DOF at 5.6. Not sure why but I am a happy camper.
PP: In Lightroom- Crop, clarity (+8)and saturation slider (+5), sharpness (+29 and radius 1.2) and noise reduction (+5) then off to CS5 for levels, cloned out a small branch in RLC and one OOF blurry area under left wing, NR to BG then used DE/TC at opacity of 15% on bird only. I also decreased the saturation of the green by -5. No USM to JPEG. Also added some blacks to the black on the night-heron
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[annmpacheco]

I like this Gail, good frame, composition, and the "out of the bush in your face look!" Although you added some black points to the BCNH, I would suggest adding a bit more as they look still a wee washed... Also on the high back area where the black meets the white feathers there is is a "greenish" color to those feathers...? I like it, and the lone dangling foot.

[Glenn Conlan]

I ducked my head when I opened this up, great close up flight shot coming at you. Well done

[sasan nejadi]

The flags of Canon are high!! thanks for sharing

[arash_hazeghi]

nice frame Gail, I like the downstroke and the dangling feet which I wish we could see more of. underwing is showing some noise

TFS

[Noel Heustis]

Gail - I love that wing position and the head angle/ eye contact coming towards the lens. I would have been thrilled to get that frame.

[Arthur Morris]

Great pose and sharp. I wish for more of the foot. Is my repost too light? I pinned the curve top and bottom and lightened the midtones. Since I calibrated my MacBook Pro I suspect that my monitor is too dark ...


with love, artie

[Mike Poole]

Great flight pose Gail, different and really 'in your face'. For my, the OP is about right, the RP's tones are just a touch light

Mike

[Glenn Pure]

An unusual and striking pose that I like a lot, Gail. The tight composition works well for me too. Yes, the DOF does look good for f5.6 and sharp where it counts. I can see why you dropped the saturation on the background green as it is very strong but not unattractive and it does provide good contrast and pop for the bird.

[Doug Brown]

Very nice image sharpness, and the BG helps make the bird stand out more. I like the full downstroke of the wings. I do wish for better eye contact. Not bad for a Canon shooter!

[gail bisson]

Great pose and sharp. I wish for more of the foot. Is my repost too light? I pinned the curve top and bottom and lightened the midtones. Since I calibrated my MacBook Pro I suspect that my monitor is too dark ...


with love, artie

Hi Artie,
I think that your image is a bit too light for the conditions that were present the day I took this. It looks nice but it was a cloudy and rather dark day when I took this.
Gail