Great Blue Heron in Flight

[Desmond Chan]

I know, another GBH ;)

D300 200-400 f4 VR @ 400mm handheld; manual exposure mode; ISO 1000 f4 1/2000 sec.; no flash. Over-exposed and so adjusted it down in Photoshop. Tweaked the colors and sharpness. Full-frame.

C&C will be appreciated.

Thanks for looking !

[Doug Brown]

Hi Desmond. The near wing is quite sharp, but the head appears a little soft; hard to pull off that much DOF at f/4. Wing position is not ideal here; I would have liked to see them up or down. And there appears to be some artifacting (perhaps from JPG compression) around the bill. Remember that you can post files up to 200 KB in size. Thanks for posting!

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with Doug and can add there is a halo around the bird? Can see better if you back away form the monitor and look at a distance. Do like the top side and timing before it got to you !!!

[Desmond Chan]

Agree with Doug and can add there is a halo around the bird? Can see better if you back away form the monitor and look at a distance.

I didn't notice that until I saw the thumbnail (guess that's too late then). I believe it had to do with the post-processing. Will be more careful next time.

Thanks Al and Doug ! Will close down the aperture next time. Guess this bird is too big for f4 :D

[Dana B. Hughes]

i guess i have a lot to learn because i think this is a fabulous shot and one I'd be proud to own. the oof right wing works for me, i love the detail i can see in the forward wing, the yellow eye and head are very appealing and have good detail... the halo effect is almost like he is flying infront of the sun.. i think its great :)