Watched this guy hunting in this "ugly" water for twenty minutes before he caught anything -- I missed that success. How they can see through the muck is a mystery to me . . . and it did make a few misses. They are not as beautiful now as at other times of the year around here, but I think impressive, nevertheless. This image is minimally cropped and tweaked and sharpened.
Wendell: Actually this is not a bad specimen of a GBH, and to me at least the feathers, especially around the chest, are more or less breeding plumage. The subdued lighting probably makes it seem less colorful. You could crank up the saturation. In any case, IMO anything that doesn't add to an image, shouldn't be there. You should try to avoid elements that don't serve a purpose when you are looking through the viewfinder, and remember that one of your main goals should be to simplify. Easier said than done! The large dark objects to the right of the bird, and one sticking out of the birds back, don't really add anything to the image, do they? Becoming aware of a background while shooting an image is very important; a background can make or break an image.
The distracting elements might be easy to remove in this image in an image editor. In photoshop, use the eyedropper tool, pick a light area behind the heron, and use the brush tool to paint away the elements. You might have to use the clone-stamp tool, but it appears there is no gradient to the light area, and a simple brush should work. hope I've been helpful~Bill
Hi Wendell - do agree with William - the stick out of the back and the other rock just under the birds head area are quite distracting.
Your exposure looks good - head/eye area is a little soft, maybe your point of focus was more on the back area?
Hi Wendell,
The background rock elements are distracting, taking away the attention from your bird...agree with the advise given...looking forward to your next one...:cool:
Nice shot Wendell, just a bit of a distracting BG. Other techs mentioned. Seems to have a bit of a colour cast to it! (Yellow maybe) Anyways with a clean BG this would have been a very nice shot IMO.
Looks like unanimous agreement on the removal of "distracting elements". I did consider erasing the one under the tail and the one coming out of the bird's back, but elected to leave them, since I like to present my images as close as I can to the way they come out of my camera. But, I now see that is aesthetically inadvisable in this instance. Appreciate advice given by all . . .
Here I would try working an angle that the bg would not seem as noticeable Trying to have separation, eliminating parts and just trying for the most pleasing.
The yellow much looks great Just try to work it in !!!
Yuk! Hate this muck!
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