Chinese Pond Heron (Thailand)

[Dorian Anderson]

Here is my attempt to show this ubiquitous - but surprisingly skulky - bird exactly as it appears in the wild. These guys are found in agricultural fields, road margins, and other scrubby areas, and I think
this frame accurately represents the species's habitat preferences. Look up the breeding plumage; it's much prettier.

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX2
1/4000 at f/4, ISO 320, handheld

Processed in LR CC with moderate trickery:
I cloned out a heavily shadowed and very distracting dark reed in front of the bird
I lightened the right hand 1/3 of the frame to match the rest
I dropped the luminosity in the green channel to make the bird pop a bit more

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Cool Looking Bird. I Like the colors. I would clone out the out of focus grass on the top of head.

TFS

[Colin Driscoll]

Good shot. Nice light and habitat.
Very much like the Indian Pond Heron that I called a magic bird because in flight it looks almost pure white.
Took me a while to realise I was looking at the same bird.

[kevin Hice]

Dorian great capture. I'm sure they are very skittish. Colors almost remind me of our Bittern. I agree about cloning the weed coming out of the head and possibly in frt of the bird. Overall great image and good representation. TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hey Dorian, lovely image, the bird reminds me of the bitterns I see in Florida. Nice work on the bird and Isolating it from the background. I might have left the luminosity of the green as captured, it appears a tad muddy with the lower luminosity. Thank you for sharing.

[David Roach]

The environment is what it is, but I can tell you the subject definitely pops. Would love to see it without brightening of the right side. TFS

[Aditya Sridhar]

The first thing that struck me about this image was the contrast. It's very punchy, in a good way. I like the bird's pose and the habitat. Greens look good to me. I know you're not a fan of cloning, but considering you've already removed an element in this frame, I'd suggest evicting the two reeds intersecting with the bird's head and backside. There might be a wee bit of a yellow cast too, but I'll let the others chip in because I'm not the best at detecting color casts. Keep 'em coming!

[Bill Dix]

A beautiful image. I love the richness of the greens, and the way the bird pops against the environment. Yes, reminds me a bit of our Bitterns, and also of the Squacco Herons we saw in Botswana. Beautiful bird. I agree about removing the bit of grass above the head.

[John Mack]

Well i learned about a new bird today, so thanks for that. Neat looking heron. Also love the name. Don't mind the setting either. Framing is right on as well.

[dankearl]

A bit bright, I would lower the exposure a bit..
I know you do not clone but I would rid of the stem over the birds head
and the tall one in front.