I managed to get out last week and found this heron among the winter marsh grasses. Thought I would offer it up for some further thoughts and guidance. It has a small amount of crop because I can't afford a 500mm lens yet:(. How distracting is the stick in front of the wing. Not sure I'm skilled enough to remove that yet, but will try. All thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Canon 40D, 100-400mm @ 400mm, ISO 200, AV, 1/750 sec @ F/8, EV -1/2
Hi Dave,
I like the composition and capture...The base image is a tad under exposed. The sun was coming from the side, thus casting the shadow...I cropped out the stick that was on the bird and the one behind him..also cropped the composition tighter; eliminating the negative space on top and to the left of the frame. I adjusted the mid-tones and lightened the dark areas on the bird to bring out the details a little bit better...ran a pas of noise reduction in the background ans selective sharpened the eye...see if this presents best to you...:cool:
Dave, Was this shot at Edwin Forsythe? If so great shot!! Hard to get remotely close there. I like the pose and composition, I probably would of done a pano crop-but Gus is the expert so-
Gus, I really appreciate the amount of work that you've done on this. I agree with your changes and when I begin working on removal of the branch on my main file I will incorporate what you have shown. As I've said before, this is the kind of critique that helps us grow. My only concern is that the heron now looks a bit tight to the right edge of the frame. Am I imagining things :confused:?
Denise, Yes this is from Forsythe and I wish I had a longer lens. Even at this distance these guys are quite skitttish. He was about 2/3 of the way out the first leg of the drive. I'm almost tempted to go to a 1.4 converter and go manual focus and a beanbag on the window. Of course the bigma might be another option. I've seen some great shots on here with that lens.
Last edited by Dave Woeller; 01-18-2009 at 12:20 PM.
Technically, I think Gus put him in the ROT's position but he does feel a little tight on that side...I'd consider moving him in just a little bit.
I would keep in mind that what makes this image "feel" so cool is that he looks very desolate and alone...keeping him on or near the edge of the frame echoes that "feel".
Winter Heron
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