Rather an ordinary background, but I like the true-blue color of the bird. Taken on January 13, 2008 at Fir Island, Skagit Flats, Washington. His head is turned toward me, which I liked but it did forshorten his bill.
Canon XTi 400mm f5.6L 1/400s f5.6 ISO 400 on-shot AF center-weighted average metering
Agree with your critique of the BG but the bird colors are nice. Was there a branch in front of the upper neck or was there something you tried to clone out? Looks soft in that area.
Thanks, Mark. There was no cloning - I think the length of the bill was such that it was just out of the dof. Here's the same bird with the head turned more sideways. I debated which image to post.
Hi Terry Not sure about the colors? He looks like a well fed bird I like the raised leg and stare With all these I like to go lower if possible for the bg blurring Excellent !!!
Thanks very much for the suggestions, Al. Since I was wide open, my chances for more bluring were eliminated, except in post processing. I really was taken with the intense blue coloring and liked the first image best because of the sharpness and raised foot, but found the forshortened beak somewhat distracting.
Hi Terry - the latest image seems to appeal to me - more characteristic head and bill for a heron. The blue looks a bit intense on my monitor but not a species that I've seen much of.