A very rare visitor to our area - only the fourth report, three of which were in the last three years - always juveniles.
D200 with 300/4 AF-S and TC-17EII, 1/1250s, f6.7, ISO450, -1EV, matrix metering.
You got it with a nice wingspread. The top of the head is too bright though, and I find the composition too tight especially at top. It is however a beautiful document-type photograph of a rare for your area species - for that it works.
I agree with Daniel. Nice wing spread. Tight crop, head is bright. Noise in the underside. I am wondering how the wing tips are not sharp even at 1/1250.
Wonderful pose and a great documentary image of a rare species for your area. Whenever you work well off the proper light angle you wind up paying the piper... Here, with the over-exposed top of the head.
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Thank you everyone; I agree with everything that has been said - kept the image simply because I liked the pose. Vertically, the image is all I have - but it is easy to add some canvas, and widening the crop on both sides is no problem. Exposure - the original RAW isn't overexposed at all - neither is the processed image - but light was harsh (3PM is too early) and it causes the top of the head to be too bright and featureless. Light angle was certainly way off optimum - wish I had used the Better Beamer to fill in the shadows, it would have at least helped with the shadows and the noise in them.
Dieter: think you did extremely well with the birds position and exposure. At first I thought that there was a bluish cast to the image, and I was going to post this observation, for I have never seen this with the many Reddish Egret adult bird captures I've made recently. Then I went back to images of hunting juvenile reddish egrets I have photographed, that incidentally were not near as good as yours, and there was the exact same bluish cast! Its the color of the feathers. I did not know. regards~Bill
Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 07-24-2008 at 09:06 PM.