Green Heron #3 - Enough Already

[Ed Vatza]

Went back to my Green Herons this evening and set up for another shoot. After about a dozen images this guy gave me this "ENOUGH ALREADY!" look, turned and disappeared into the bushes behind him. After a bit he came out the other side and flew up into the trees. I decided to leave him be at that point.

Yes I know the background is way too busy. And this is a heavy crop to focus in on just the face. He has seen enough of me and you've seen enough of my Green Heron images. Time to move on to a different subject.

Canon 30D; 300mm f/2.8L IS with 2x TC

1/800 sec @ f/5.6; ISO 400; +1/3 EV; Natural light; Focal length 600mm (35mm equivalent = 960mm)

[Ed Cordes]

The expression does seem to say "enough is enough". I also like the bad hair day look. The large crop is evident. Thanks for sharing.

[Ed Vatza]

The large crop is evident.

Just for comparison, this is the full frame, uncropped version.

[Amy DeStefanis]

Hehehehe. If you ever saw your mother having her hair frosted in a salon, you would really find this hysterical. They put a cap - like a bathing cap - on the head, and through holes in it, pull pieces of hair through to "frost". This guy reminded me of that for some strange reason. That, or he just lost a fight with a dandelion.... :)

Even with the big crop, the details are sharp. I've seen these guys on the river, and they are very skittish. I've only gotten a few recognizeable shots as they head off into the woods - or behind a cover of twigs....

You already critiqued him yourself - I'll just say I enjoyed seeing him. :)

Thanks,
Amy D.

[Ed Vatza]

Thanks Amy. I didn't think the crop turned out too bad. Since I wanted to present the expression on the Heron's face, I cropped down to a 800x1000 pixel piece of the pie. I actually like the full frame if only the bird would separate itself more from the background so the background had a chance to go out of focus.

[Arthur Morris]

The crop held up well. The biggest problems with both the cropped image and the ORIG are the poor light angle which has left the right side of the bird's head shaded, the busy and proximal BKGR, and the relatively harsh light.