Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron

[Phil Ertel]

Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron

This image was captured on April 05, 2009 while on an excursion on the Alafia Banks in Florida with James Shadle on the Hoopie Deux.

This is a fairly large crop. I converted the RAW file in ACR and imported then into CS3. Once in CS3 I ran shadow/Highlights, adjusted slightly with levels, tone down a few leafs with highlights, and ran noise reduction using the Topaz Denoiser plugin. I resized/sharpened and posted.

Thanks for reviewing and special thanks for any comments/critiques.

Regards,

Phil

Image Specifications:
Camera: Canon 50D
Setting:
Manual Mode
f-Stop: 6.3
Shutter speed: 1/1000
ISO: 400
Lens: 500mm IS USM f4.0 plus 1.4x
Tripod: Gitzo GT3540LS with Mongoose 3.5; 4th generation
Flash: not used

[Randy Stout]

Phil:

Amazing eyes, good wing position, sense of motion implied by blurred wingtips. Nice water spray. Good composition.

The light was a bit harsh, and I might consider toning down the background a bit more, to help separate the bird and limit the competition for our visual attention.

Axel might say to reduce the shine on the legs!

Cheers, and thanks for sharing. Always fun to go out with James!

Randy

[Jory Griesman]

I really like the slight head tilt and stare, with the sharp head thru torso. Water droplets always a bonus for my taste. As Randy noted, would tone down the background.

[Adams Serra]

Hi Phil,
I don't find that the BG takes anything away from the picture. The first thing i see when i look at it are those big eyes and the water splash.
Congratulations.

[Fabs Forns]

Almost comical pose and very sharp. Well exposed and good compo. The BG is what it is: Florida mangrove.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I feel it is a touch too saturated, but am no expert at the real-life colors there. Great eye contact and love the soft wing movement. Thanks for sharing. :)

[Ed Cordes]

Outstanding eyes and eye contact. I like the action depicted by the wing position and the water dropping off the bird. Tack sharp as well. Love it!!

[Marina Scarr]

This picture is tack sharp. The eyes look as though they are popping out of the heron's head. But that is really how they look. I love the wing position and the water drops coming off of the legs. I don't feel as though the picture is oversaturated. The BG does detract some from the subject, but you obviously couldn't have gotten any lower. You did a great job with what you had to work with.

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent timing for the take off, and love the trailing droplets. Sharp where it counts, and those large eyes makes this image. I would maybe tone down the lighter leaves top right corner.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Incredible timing and awesome eye contact. Sharp and well exposed.
congratulations Phil !!!

[Brian Wong]

Hi Phil!

Fantastic pose and wonderful eye contact & expression. I know the background Mangrove is what it is ... but I think it can be improved by toning down some of the bright shine in the background. The sharp water splashes with the soft wingtip blur adds to the story.

[Randy Stout]

Phil:

Here is a quick pass at reducing the brightness of the foliage. I had to use a lot of compression on the jpeg to repost it, so some of the snap is being lost in the image, but I think it gets the idea across. just an option for you to consider.

Randy

[Phil Ertel]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I will have to go back to the master file and toning down brightness of the leaves (Randy, thanks for the visual).

[Phil Ertel]

Thanks again for the comments. Here is an edit with the leaves darken. Better or worse? I think it helped.

[Dick Glover]

Phil,
I liked the original, and the repost is even better. Thanks for sharing.
Dick

[Dave Barnes]

I like those eyes and the water spray. I prefer the darkened back ground. The square crop works well here. Good capture.