Great Blue Heron

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image at Circle B Bar Reserve early this morning. The weather was a heavy overcast, quite dark. Rain was predicted later in the day and I wanted to get out and walk. I am not really posting this for critique because I think there are flaws, but I am posting the image because of the ISO 12800. Amazing the cameras and the sensors inside, also the auto focus to work in dim light. Comments are appreciated and welcomed. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED image captured at 400mm
1/1600 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV +3 ISO 12800 Auto 1 WB HH
Post processed in Lightroom Classic CC, Photoshop CC 2019 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Pretty much full frame, cropped from 2x3 to 16x9

[Arthur Morris]

Not bad at all but too tight in the frame. I am pretty sure that you cropped too tightly ... Nice wing position and even lighting.

with love, artie

[Joseph Przybyla]

Not bad at all but too tight in the frame. I am pretty sure that you cropped too tightly ... Nice wing position and even lighting.

with love, artie

Good Morning Artie, problem is the bird was too close. Except for narrowing the 2x3 to 16x9 this is full frame. I left it as is to show what can be done at ISO 12800. The exposure compensation of +3 over exposed the bird slightly which was recovered in post processing. Not sure about adding canvas, I may try to get more room around the bird. Thank you for viewing and commenting.

[John Mack]

Looks great for the high ISO. The pose is nice. Wish for more room in front of the bird.

[Isaac Grant]

Considering the ISO it looks OK. But everything else makes this a delete. You have poor image quality, lots of grain, colors are off, the top of the head has no fine feather details and the bird is way too cramped in the frame. You have much better files than this one Joe. Much better.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Considering the ISO it looks OK. But everything else makes this a delete. You have poor image quality, lots of grain, colors are off, the top of the head has no fine feather details and the bird is way too cramped in the frame. You have much better files than this one Joe. Much better.

Good Morning Isaac, I agree with most of your comments. In my post I said the image had flaws and that I was posting not for critique but to only show what is possible as ISO 12800. I am sure someone like Ari could post process the image better. The shutter speed was marginal at best, the high ISO would have affected the color and grain of the image. I know the bird is tight in the frame, it was very close. Also the closeness would have challenged the shutter speed (which was marginal because of the time of day and heavy overcast). I would appear that you did not read my comments about the image and what I was asking for. I was not posting this image for critical critique but rather to show that a image is possible at that ISO. Certainly it cannot compete with a image taken under better or ideal conditions. Thank you for viewing and commenting.

[Isaac Grant]

Hi Joe, I read what you wrote but I don’t agree. At that ISO the image quality is too poor and not post worthy in my opinion. When you add the too toght in frame and the lack of details the image is even more compromised.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe, I read what you wrote but I don’t agree. At that ISO the image quality is too poor and not post worthy in my opinion. When you add the too toght in frame and the lack of details the image is even more compromised.

Whatever...