Juvenile Little Blue Heron

[Rob Mckenzie]

The image was taken from a boardwalk which was in the shade and the majority of the green area was also in the shade. The bird was not only completely white but also in full sun. I stopped the exposure down knowing that I would screw it up if I didn't leave myself a lot of headroom to work with in ACR. I have now worked on the image too long and can't work out if the colours are working. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
D300 - 70-300 @ 300mm
ISO 200
-1 1/3 ev
1/4000 @ f / 5.6
Metering: Eval
No Tripod
No Flash
Aperture Priority

I think maybe if I could take the shot again I would spot meter the bird and then compensate accordingly. I did want to get the texture of the green cabbage like plants though as it seems to work well with the smooth plumage.

Thank you in advance for any C & C - don't go easy

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Rob,
I like the capture, a few points need our attention; The capture angle is too steep, and the bird is too centered in frame. Your whites are a tad hot pushing 250. and you were photographing in very harsh sun light...I cropped into a tight pano to put more focus on the bird and the action at hand; and also to follow the natural flow of the position of the bird's body. I adjusted the mid-tones and toned down the whites; selective sharpened the eye, and the contour of the feathers in the body...see if this presents best to you...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent catch Rob I'm sure there was nothing you could do about he angle but sure got the peak of action !! I like it a lot just the slight head turn. It is the luck of the draw but does make them appealing !! I like the tighter crop !!

[Rob Mckenzie]

Hi Gus, Alfred
Thank you for the comments. Completely agree the angle is off. Getting off the boardwalk at Corkscrew is not the done thing though!!
I am very glad Gus was able to sort the colours out and I very much like the crop.
Thank you
Rob

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Think you did very well with the light Rob. Like the pano crop, might just clone out the brown spot in the ULC.

[Dave Leroy]

I like the details in the white Rob. I guess the angles are sometimes what you get so well done. Tighter crop is nice. It looks like the bird is snacking on a spider. ??
Dave

[Lance Peters]

Hi rob - agree with all of the above - Soft light is the key with white birds (We have lots of them over here in Oz) looking forwardto seeing more. :)