Great Blue Heron Landing

[Tom Walter]

For me this was a once in a lifetime opportunity as this Great Blue Heron came in for a landing at Lake Boivin in Quebec Province. I wasn't sure about the boardwalk, but decided to include it to show where the heron was going. Your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Nikon D200
Nikon 70-300 4.5-5.6G VR at 75mm
Hand held
Natural light, no flash
1/2500 sec at f4.5
ISO 400

[Randy Stout]

Tom:

This guy looks like he is all set to land.

If the object is to show him coming to land on the boardwalk, then leaving the boardwalk in of course is essential. The pose of the bird is interesting with the gear down and locked.

The main concern for me is the light, which is harsh and has left the underside of the near wing black. That is a tough one to recover from, probably not enough there to bring up with shadow protection.

I might try one more round of USM on the bird, but it might exacerbate the already contrasty image.

Thanks for sharing. Do you have any others in this series?

Fill flash might have helped you handle the tough light, brightening up the underside of the wing and reducing the dynamic range a bit in the scene.

The head angle could be a bit better, with a turn towards us, but of course, the bird is watching where he is landing!

Cheers

Randy

[Tom Walter]

Randy,

Thanks for your comments, Yes I do have some others of this heron as he posed on the boardwalk. I'll post them later.

Tom

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Tom -
if ok with you - a bit of quick work in PS
with quick mask moved the heron closer to the board walk, curves adjustment to darken highlights and try to lighten shadows (under wing), slight lens blur to bushes in background. With a bit more work - can probably get it even better
PH

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

no idea why the file wouldn't attach
hopefully it's attached now

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The pose is very cool and the recovered details under the near wing make it even better.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Really like the timing and wonderful action you captured in this image. I agree about the slight darkness and lack of detail in the underside of the wing. Perhaps a touch of S/H would help bring up a little more detail. Many thanks for sharing Tom .

[Tom Walter]

Thanks for the suggestions. I can see now that there was too much contrast and that the under side of the wing was too dark. I have redone the image in Photoshop CS with S&H plus mid-tone levels adjustment for under the wings. I have also blurred the foliage in the background. I did not move the heron closer to the boardwalk because I have never been very successful with that type of operation. Anyway, Here is my rework. What do you think?

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hi Tom,

I like your rework. You brought out a lot of detail under that left wing. Nice pose overall! Well done! :)

[Stu Bowie]

Well done on the rework Tom. Excellent capture and well timed for the landing.