Great Blue Heron With Armored Catfish

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image at Circle B Bar Refuge in Polk County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S ED, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/1250 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 125 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 185mm (277mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2022 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped to 16x9 for composition and presentation

P.S. Learn more about Circle B Bar Refuge in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-authored. It is available at this link https://birdsasart-shop.com/the-baa-...ic-site-guide/

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Joe ... a super cool shot , all does work for me here .
Super timed !!!
Nice composition

Just the difference in tonality of subject and reflection is a minor flaw to me .... would keep both in the same tonal range . This is where AI struggles .... and HI comes into play

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Joe ... a super cool shot , all does work for me here .
Super timed !!!
Nice composition

Just the difference in tonality of subject and reflection is a minor flaw to me .... would keep both in the same tonal range . This is where AI struggles .... and HI comes into play



TFS Andreas

I don't understand this Andreas, one would be transmitted light the other reflected light - would you expect them to be the same????

[Andreas Liedmann]

I don't understand this Andreas, one would be transmitted light the other reflected light - would you expect them to be the same????

Yes I would .... it is very obvious ( to me ) that the subject was lightened

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Andreas and Jon, thank you for viewing and commenting. After applying the usual global sliders in Lightroom, exposure, contrast etc. I reduced noise and sharpened in Lightroom. This screen shot is the only other changes I made, reducing highlights and opening shadows. The mask shows that I did that to both the subject and reflection, so any difference was natural as the light reflected from both. Thanks again...

[Andreas Liedmann]

Ooops sat on the wrong horse ....sorry

What makes me puzzled a tiny bit , is the different density of subject and reflection in the mask .... at least it looks like on the screen shot

After I wrote my comment , I checked my own images and they show the same luminance in subject and reflection .... just looked at the unedited files in Photomechanic .

[Joseph Przybyla]

Ooops sat on the wrong horse ....sorry

What makes me puzzled a tiny bit , is the different density of subject and reflection in the mask .... at least it looks like on the screen shot

After I wrote my comment , I checked my own images and they show the same luminance in subject and reflection .... just looked at the unedited files in Photomechanic .

Hi Andreas, not a problem. I wanted to show you and Jon what I had done and that it was to both the subject and reflection. Not sure why but I think the reflection is always darker, maybe the angle the light reflects from it. Thanks for coming back.

[Arthur Morris]

Mystified by the discussion above but I do know that this is a very fine image. My only wishes that we had a better look at the preyfish (how's that for coining a new word?). The image design is spot-on and the reflection is mega! I do know that the reflection will always appear darker than the subject.

What date?

with love, artie