Egret Christmas Tree

[ChasMcRae]

Isolated tree in large cattle pasture in Pantanal, Brazil serving as a daytime roost. The isolation is what drew my attention.

Chas.

amera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Owner: © Chas. Mc Rae
Date/Time: 2005:08:07 03:25:17
Copyright: © Chas. Mc Rae
Shutter speed: 1/500 sec
Aperture: 13
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -1/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Focal length: 840mm
Image size: 800 x 559
Rotation: none
Color space: AdobeRGB
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)
User comments:
"Egret roost tree for Cattle Egrets in middle

of pasture during day

Pantanal Area, Brazil"
Image description:
"Egret roost tree for Cattle Egrets in middle
of pasture during day

[Ramon M. Casares]

WOW.. I wouldn't mind having that Christmas tree at all!!! I love it! I would crop some from the bottom so to de-center the horizon line a bit more and I would;ve used some of the dirt from the right to cover whatever you cloned in the right side, other than that... just great! Congratulaitons! Amazing find!

[Lance Peters]

OMG - Wow - lovely shot - ohh to have that many photo OP'S in the one place at the one time :)

I really like this shot - maybe a little tight RHS.

:)

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Chas,
Love it as presented - fantastic image - very well done!
Regards,
Nicki

[Fabs Forns]

Terrific, it looks like a painting. Isolation is just right. I find the copyright notice is so big it becomes a distraction.

[Dean Ingwersen]

Agree with Ramon's comments...slight crop from bottom would improve comp, and the cloning to me stands out a little. But these are minor and easily fixed. That said, this is a great subject seen and captured really well.

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

A dream come true for the bird photographer :)

[Glenn Bartley]

What a cool image!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Stunning image and well captured. Love it.

[ChasMcRae]

Actually the clone was a white cow out of focus.
I went back and used the patch tool(don't laugh , but just practicing with that today-still learning) rather than cloning and it looked more natural to my eye.

Chas.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Patch tool is great for that, I use much more than the cloning stamp, but you should've replaced it with some similar textures from the right of the frame, that way you don't get these similar shapes one next to the other.

[Alfred Forns]

Impressive roosting place and in great light !!! I like it a lot !!

[Cheryl Ertelt]

Way cool shot. I think the comp is stronger with a crop from the bottom to a slightly pano format.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Oh, wow, what a scene!! Just some cleaning up of the clone spots and you'll have a winner!!

[Tony Whitehead]

This is great, Charles. Using a quickmask selection on a new layer to patch ( as per Robert O'Toole's APTATS) is a great way to get a nicely feathered patch that blends in well.

[Linda Robbins]

Wonderful image! Agree that cropping from the bottom will improve the image. Using a quick mask rather than cloning or using the patch tool will give you perfect results. The oversize copyright does detract.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Amazing sight, I've never seen anything like it. I like the crop idea.

[Simon Bennett]

A wonderful capture.

[Mark Schmitt]

That is a dramatice shot. Well done.