Tricolor Portait

[Mike Godwin]

Nikon D300 w/Nikkor 70-200 + 1.7 TC @ 340mm (Handheld) ISO 400 f/5 1/1000 -0.3 step Taken at Gatorland 5/08/09 at 6:11pm

Tricolored Heron in breeding colors posing as it was getting ready to feed its babies. Object was to isolate the dark bird against a lighter background using natural light.

MIke Godwin
Gatorland

[Randy Stout]

Mike:

Object achieved. Very sharp with lots of feather detail, well exposed,excellent head angle, great eye.

I would be tempted for just a bit more room, top and front. Not much.

Your sig line is too bold and detracts a lot from the photo.

A little noise has crept into the darker ares of the background.

A beauty, look forward to more.

Randy

[Mike Godwin]

Hi Randy, thanks for the comments. I'm one of those folks that likes a tight image, so I imagine it may be a bit close for some. Sorry about the watermark, I wish I had more time to post an image tailored for each place, but alas, I don't. This is straight from the Rookery blog where I have to make sure Gatorland's images aren't used to represent other places, so it's a bit bolder than most would be. Heck, I haven't had time to post here in ages! As for the noise, this same image has been resized several times for posting in different places, with a substantial decrease in size, so the quality suffers a bit. Hope you'll forgive me! :)

Mike Godwin
Gatorland

[Jean-Luc Vaillant]

1. I don't mind tight but I'd like a bit more room in front as well.
2. The dark "blob" (top left) is a bit distracting IMHO.
3. I'd try a bit of shadow treatment to reduce the contrast a tiny bit and increase the detail on the beak.
This said, it's a really beautiful shot that with tons of details and lovely colors.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the light, the sharpness, and the HA. I'm with JL on the black blob. Just for the record, this indivdual is well past prime breeding plumage.

[Stu Bowie]

Amazingly sharp, and love the feather detail in this. Super pose, with the curved neck, and stands out nicely against the BG.

[Dan Brown]

Great image! Love the sharpness! the blob is a little bit distracting but I love the one white feather coming out of the back of the head!