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Thread: Juvenile Little Blue

  1. #1
    AJ Kunkel
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    Default Juvenile Little Blue

    I think this is a juvenile Little Blue Heron
    Gatorland at 8am, overcast and just done raining
    Sony A700, Sony 70-400G, Better Beamer fill-Flash
    300mm, f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 400

  2. #2
    Mike Godwin
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    Hi AJ,

    Not a Little Blue... it's a Tricolored Heron. Nice use of the flash and depth of field to blur the busy background. Glad to see you're having fun despite the rains! :)

    Mike Godwin
    Gatorland

  3. #3
    BPN Member Tony Whitehead's Avatar
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    Nice pose and good use of flash, AJ - I like the rain droplets on the plumes. I would try darkening the lighter areas in the BG. An option is to use manual exposure and underexpose the BG by a stop or two to achieve this in camera
    Tony Whitehead
    Visit my blog at WildLight Photography for latest news and images.

  4. #4
    AJ Kunkel
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Godwin View Post
    Hi AJ,

    Not a Little Blue... it's a Tricolored Heron. Nice use of the flash and depth of field to blur the busy background. Glad to see you're having fun despite the rains! :)

    Mike Godwin
    Gatorland
    Thanks Mike...I was vacillating between the two.

  5. #5
    AJ Kunkel
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Whitehead View Post
    Nice pose and good use of flash, AJ - I like the rain droplets on the plumes. I would try darkening the lighter areas in the BG. An option is to use manual exposure and underexpose the BG by a stop or two to achieve this in camera
    Thanks Tony. I tried some like that as well and I will post one or 2 of those later, but I was going to ask if it made the flash too obvious.

  6. #6
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    Great looking bird. Great work here. Would just like a bit more light on the eye. Well done

  7. #7
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    AJ: Nice image. I use a Sony a-700 and 70-400G as well. I love them. I'm not sure why you used the flash, generally fill flash is used to brighten and bring detail to shadow areas, and this is necessary in bright sunshine and thus high contrast situations. Generally it is not used purposely to illuminate the entire subject. Under these conditions(actually quite good bird photography, unless you get rained on ), I would dispense of the flash, either use a tripod or since I generally hand hold, gone to ISO 640-800 and a higher shutter speed, and overexpose but don't blow out the whites. Firmware V4 for the A-700 needs to be installed if not already. In post processing drop the exposure to normal, and you might increase contrast and saturation a bit. Noise shouldn't be an issue until above ISO 800.
    About the use of the flash to create a catchlight; some people would use a flash under these conditions solely to create a catchlight. I find the tiny catchlight created under these conditions to look artificial, but I may be the minority. Creating a catchlight in PS is a possibilty, and though I'd try enhancing an existing catchlight instead, it might not be possible here.
    Back to your image. I'd go for a vertical orientation when taking the picture. This would reduce the impact of the background. You could also brighten up the eye as well. If you have CS4, and use Adobe Camera Raw 5, you can use the local adjustment brush and do it in short order, otherwise in PS which is a bit more complicated.
    Hope I've been helpful~Bill
    Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 05-29-2009 at 11:56 PM.

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