Reddish Egret - Bad Hair Day

[Linwood Ferguson]

I have a dozen in more interesting poses but this was the only good head angle.

Criticism solicited. Especially on composition -- there was nothing else near him, and I have a fair amount of water surrounding and chose to put him here in the frame. It is a fairly tight crop so not as much detail as I hoped, not sure if you can tell from this, but would welcome input as to whether it is over sharpened given the size (if someone wants to see a a full resolution see here)

Edit to add details: D300, 200-400 @ 380mm F6.3, ISO200 1/600, no flash, taken an hour or so after dawn in Ding Darling Preserve on Sanibel, Florida.

[Arthur Morris]

Sharpening looks fine to me, as does head angle. The water is a bit too electric for me and needs to be toned done with Hue-SAT. The framing is fine too if just a tiny bit tight for some.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Love the hairdo and the majestic pose. Excellent exposure and superb eye contact.

[joel quenneville]

Welcome to BPN! I love the texture and detail in the feathers here. Your pose is excellent with a good combination of head and body angle. The soft blue BG is pleasing and adds to your composition. Good job on your framing and subject placement.

There are several spots in the BG that you might want to clone out. One is situated on the left side of the lower neck while another is right on the left edge about two-thirds of the way down. You might also want to crop some from the bottom to eliminate the reflection from the tail.

Verdict: very well done and I will be looking forward to more!

[Randy Stout]

I am kind of partial to reds, as you might gather from my avatar.

On my monitor the image is oversharpened , with a visible halo about the head feathers, especially to the rear. The contrast is also pretty high, probably just from the available light. Did you do some work on the eye.

Generally it is good to include the virtual feet, so wouldn't crop quite so tight below.

Thanks for sharing, and keep them coming!

Randy

[Kobus Tollig]

Great pose colour and exposure. I do see some sharpening halos and a halo at the back of the head maybe from S/H. I woukd also clone out the spots on the water.
Still great image. Needs just a bit of tlc

[Linwood Ferguson]

Great pose colour and exposure. I do see some sharpening halos and a halo at the back of the head maybe from S/H. I woukd also clone out the spots on the water.
Still great image. Needs just a bit of tlc

This brings up a question -- if you are interested in being in nature forums or competition and following the general guidelines, is that kind of cloning permitted?

As an example, I had a shot recently where two twigs were close to a bird's head (with water behind them) and I easily cloned them out with the dust spot tool in lightroom, nothing fancy. But that seemed to violate the rules for nature competitions (and it isn't clear about here, I keep seeing this "hand of man" comment and not sure if that's specific to content objects or to manipulation).

To the others, thank you very much, the comments especially the suggestions help. I will desaturate a bit on the blue (I really did not add much, it was a very blue sky reflecting, but it is rather electric), not sharpen quite so aggressively. I did up the contrast in the eye a bit by darkening the iris and lightening the surrounding using the brush in lightroom, changing exposure not color.

[Arthur Morris]

This brings up a question -- if you are interested in being in nature forums or competition and following the general guidelines, is that kind of cloning permitted?

As an example, I had a shot recently where two twigs were close to a bird's head (with water behind them) and I easily cloned them out with the dust spot tool in lightroom, nothing fancy. But that seemed to violate the rules for nature competitions (and it isn't clear about here, I keep seeing this "hand of man" comment and not sure if that's specific to content objects or to manipulation).

To the others, thank you very much, the comments especially the suggestions help. I will desaturate a bit on the blue (I really did not add much, it was a very blue sky reflecting, but it is rather electric), not sharpen quite so aggressively. I did up the contrast in the eye a bit by darkening the iris and lightening the surrounding using the brush in lightroom, changing exposure not color.

Hi Ferguson, Welcome. What is your full name? The only rule here is to make the best image. I, and most others on BPN often do extensive work on the BKGR removing distracting elements and removing other birds. At times I replace or add a bird or a body part taken from another image in a series.

Many contests forbid our doing anything but color and conrast adjustments, sharpening, and dust spotting. Others allow you to do whatever you want, while still others have categories for digital creations or photo illustrations.

It is a good plan to read and follow the rules closely. Most high contests require winners to submit the RAW file.

For me here and elsewhere, the key thing is that you let folks know what you have done.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

[Linwood Ferguson]

Hi Ferguson, Welcome. What is your full name?

Linwood Ferguson, signature updated, thanks for reminder.

The only rule here is to make the best image.
....
Many contests forbid our doing anything but color and conrast adjustments, sharpening, and dust spotting. Others allow you to do whatever you want, while still others have categories for digital creations or photo illustrations.
....

Thanks. I was specifically interested in "Nature" as most forums and contest use it seem to adopt such rules.

Most that provide rules are fairly clear. The one place I get a bit confused is ones that say "no hand of man" without explanation.

What surprises me is that I have had two different judges at a club event say that "hand of man" also implied the presence of a cultivated or landscaped plant, so if you took a wild bird that happened to be sitting on a palm tree in your yard, or a butterfly on a planted flower, it was not acceptable under "hand of man" restrictions and so inappropriate in "Nature" categories. That seemed a bit extreme.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, so far what I love about this site is that people tend to tell you what is actually wrong -- a few other palces all I get is "nice shot". Compliments are pleasant, but don't educate.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Linwood,

re:

Thanks. I was specifically interested in "Nature" as most forums and contest use it seem to adopt such rules.

YAW. I am unsure of what you mean by "Nature."

Most that provide rules are fairly clear. The one place I get a bit confused is ones that say "no hand of man" without explanation.

In such cases, it would be best to inquire.

What surprises me is that I have had two different judges at a club event say that "hand of man" also implied the presence of a cultivated or landscaped plant, so if you took a wild bird that happened to be sitting on a palm tree in your yard, or a butterfly on a planted flower, it was not acceptable under "hand of man" restrictions and so inappropriate in "Nature" categories. That seemed a bit extreme.

Agree. You could either get more involved in hopes of changing the rules or fin another club.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, so far what I love about this site is that people tend to tell you what is actually wrong -- a few other palces all I get is "nice shot". Compliments are pleasant, but don't educate.

Thanks and agree: honest critiques done gently is what we strive fo.