American Bittern

[Dorian Anderson]

This is a heavy crop from a noisy file captured in flat light, but I held onto the resulting frame as it represents my first decent image of this species.
Processing was much heavier-handed than usual, so it'll be interesting to see what folks think of the result. The white balance gave me fits in this
instance, so I particularly welcome any suggestions on that front.

I would have liked a bit more head turn towards me, but I think this is passable.

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX2
1/2000 at f/5.6, ISO 3200
Processed in LR CC and Topaz AI. Nothing cloned or added.

[arash_hazeghi]

this is more than descent, I don't have any bittern shots flight or otherwise. Details look good to my eye especially for a 20 mega pixel cropped file at ISO3K. I might reduce the BG brightness a bit and add bit of contrast to the bird but that's about it. the wing position is nice and there are no shadows either.

TFS

[Dorian Anderson]

this is more than descent, I don't have any bittern shots flight or otherwise. Details look good to my eye especially for a 20 mega pixel cropped file at ISO3K. I might reduce the BG brightness a bit and add bit of contrast to the bird but that's about it. the wing position is nice and there are no shadows either.

TFS

Thanks, man. Will play around with your ideas tomorrow. As for the bittern, they're super rare around here. I saw one in Golden Gate Park a few years ago, but I've never seen
it in San Mateo County (my home) or Santa Clara County (your home). This one was way out east in Sierra County north of Tahoe.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks, man. Will play around with your ideas tomorrow. As for the bittern, they're super rare around here. I saw one in Golden Gate Park a few years ago, but I've never seen
it in San Mateo County (my home) or Santa Clara County (your home). This one was way out east in Sierra County north of Tahoe.

Ironically I have seen them in SoCal a few times (Huntington beach central park) at point blank...gorgeous light.... but of course did not have a camera on me!

[dankearl]

This is nice Dorian, I have numerous in habitat images but never a decent flight one.. Congrats..

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dorian, great flight pose climbing through the frame. A great result with your high ISO, and overall, nice and sharp. I like the overall detail and colours. God job on 'saving' this.

[Wayne Niz]

Lovely bird and great wing position, BG great too, nice pic well done

[Arthur Morris]

I love it. The IQ looks great and so does the color. Yeah, a bit more head turn would not have hurt. You did a great job with the processing as the near-underwing detail looks just fine.

with love, a

[John Mack]

Looks fine to me. Great background. A nice frame.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dorian ... nice flight shot .
Personally I am not too fuzzed about the overall color , looks too yellow for me . But might be just me ...

No need to get excited when shooting at Iso 3200 with that kit .... IMHO ... no problem for me . As long as the exposure is good ....

TFS Andreas

[Daniel Cadieux]

Looks great Dorian! I have reservations about the WB as well - I too feel it's a little too yellow/green. Other than that, props for a great flight image of this species.

[Brian Sump]

Dorian, not a species I'm really familiar with and so, it looks really nice to me.

Great wing angle, pretty bkg. IQ seems to have held up.

Only thing to consider (if you hadn't) is using the small white patch on the wrist to test and see if it's heavy in yellow or green. That could be a decent barometer for the rest.

Nicely done, tfs!

[Randy Stout]

Dorian:

My first thought was neat to see one flying. I hear them fairly frequently here in Michigan with their bizarre "bog pump" sound, but rarely see them. My second thought was, too yellow/green as mentioned by others.

My take on the color balance.