American Bittern

[Bonnie Block]

50D 300/2.8 IS + 1.4 TC
1/2500s f/5.6 at 420.0mm iso320

I was out with several other photographers in search of short-eared owls. Also chatting with some birders who mentioned that they would like to see a bittern. Well, I said one just flew in behind you! All five of us looked in the tall, dry grass--and behold this guy got up on a log for all to see. A busy bg, yes--but it could have been, and usually is a lot busier! :)

[Doug Brown]

Nice to get one of these out in the open Bonnie! Like the pose, low angle, and light. The BG is a little busy, and I might be tempted to clone out the dark branches directly behind the bird. Other than that, a very nice photo!

[Raul Quinones]

Nice picture, cleanest shot of bittern I have seen, nice pose and colors. Congrats.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Wow, way out in the open! I don't remember the last time I saw a photo of an American Bittern with the feet being visible (apart from flights). I actually dont mind the sticks in the BG, but what catches my eye most is the change of colour in ULC. You could play with saturation and/or colour balance to see if you can match it the to the rest of the BG.

[Bonnie Block]

Thanks guys--I toned down the ULC, as well as the dark twigs in the bg

[David Thomasson]

Nice capture. I adjusted WB a tad toward warmer, brightened the bird with a levels adjustment, and dimmed the background with curves. Also blurred the BG a little.

[Arthur Morris]

Gret stuff going on here as well as a nice image. I like the color of the bird best in David's repost; I was gonna say that the original post looked like Kodachrome 64!

[Bonnie Block]

Thanks, Doug, Raul, and Daniel for your comments.
David, I definitely like your repost of the image better. Looks good!
Artie, thank you. I have been having monitor/profile issues this week--I think I have them solved, but I am probably still a little gunshy. Everything I was posting was too warm and over saturated. I guess not now!
Thanks, again!

[Dave Phillips]

super image Bonnie.
Personally like the coloration(hues) in the original and the bg softened in David's repost