Black-crowned Night Heron

[EdNguyen]

1D mk3 + 800mm f/5.6 IS lens, 1/2500s, f/5.6, ISO 400, EV 0, handheld

[Ramon M. Casares]

Light was a bit too harsh IMO, and that shadow in the wing is a little distracting, but the BG, pose, detail, colors, sharpness and comp are sure amazing! Congratulations!

[Kobus Tollig]

Ditto all Ramon said. Stil nice one

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Great detail, composition, and wing position! I am absolutely sure that we have all confronted the harsh light scenario, and indeed it has been mentioned here. I'm afraid IMO it is an image killer, and I thought I'd delve ino this a little further than just point out the harsh light. Harsh light is direct sunlight unfiltered by clouds. It can be early morning, at dusk, or anytime in between. It causes high contrast, undetailed darks, blown whites, and washed out colors all in the same image. It is a pain in the neck post-processing, and sometimes because the shadows are hidden, either on the back side of the subject(why it is important the light is behind the photographer in such a scenario), or the wings are in a down postion in flight captures, we can get away with it.
A fill-flash is a solution, but although it often does work, it causes problems as well. For example, if anything is front of the subject, vegetation, or a wing on the side facing the camera, it creates shadows as well. It works especially well on a single bird on a perch, but a large bird in flight; not so good, usually because of the distance, but for other reasons as well.
So what to do with our Black-crowned Night Heron?
I have come to the conclusion, after many flight captures, which include my fair share of BCNHs, that an overcast day, or any conditions where clouds have blocked the sun, even momentarily, are absolutely necessary to consistantly create good images, and direct sun will consistently create poor images.
I wish I was incorrect, and if I'm missing something, someone please tell me! Regards~Bill

[Dick Glover]

Ed,
I still like the sharpness, eye contact, BG and composition, and with the 800m handheld! If the alternative to this image in these conditions is no image, I would be proud to have the image you made. Nice work and thanks for sharing.
Dick

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Ed: Bill again. I don't think me telling you how proud you should be, and telling you how good your image is and we appreciate your sharing is very usefull. It is a good image! It could have been a great image. I am assuming you came to this site to learn to be a better photographer, and you want to know how you could, in the FUTURE, take a better photograph of, lets say, a Black-crowned Night-heron in flight. The question of the alternative of this image under these conditions or none at all is valid though. Indeed, many good photgraphers would make an informed decision and decide not to take the picture at all under these conditions, and wait until the lighting is better. Not to say I'm a good photographer, or not, but I would wait for the lighting. regards~Bill

[Stu Bowie]

I like the detail in this, and you have brought out the lovely red eye nicely. This pops from the BG very well, and I like the colours in the BG.

[Dave Barnes]

Yes the light was harsh but I still think this is a striking image under the circumstaces. I like the comp and the detail that you have captured.
I think you should be able to reduce the harsh shadows in PP as you still have a lot of detail.

[EdNguyen]

Thank you all for your comments and encouragement. I really appreciate Bill's feedback. I always love to photograph in soft light whenever possible. However, my job (not photography-related) prevents me from going birding at sunrise or sunset. To make matters worse, it's mostly sunny here in the Bay Area (northern California). Wish the conditions were better :-(

For this particular image, I could have lightened the shadow on the wing, but decided to leave it as is to add a sense of depth to the image. The dark shadow helps make the bird pop from the background. If it had been a portrait of the heron, I would have waited for softer lighting conditions.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Ed: I'm glad you appreciated the feedback. I may have seemed a little harsh(no pun intended), and I'm glad you didn't take it that way. I shoot many pictures, and a constant source of frustration is confronting the lighting conditions we are talking about, especially when the lighting is near perfect, and then suddenly clouds disapate and the sun is shining brightly! I might even curse under such conditions. I might have let that frustration out on your extraordinary image with my post, for it likely happened a few hours before the post. I take alot of flight captures, and although it is possible to take a stationary bird image by positioning yourself so you can't see the shadows(blocked by the bird), this is very difficult with birds in flight.
I have been trying to determine how it could be possible to get good images under these conditions, which a certainly compounded by the high contrast shadows of light colored bird like great and snowy egrets (BCNherons are pretty light except for the back). The conclusion is that with the wings in the full down position, and a good viewing angle, shadows can be cut to a minumum. There is also an advantage of bright light, as shown in your image, in that the contrast can accentuate feather detail, which is somewhat more subdued in soft light.
Another idea, that sometimes works, is what I call shadow play. If you can get a shadow of a head and bill on a wing surface, or some other interesting shadows arising from the subject on something else, like a tern flying low on a beach, for example, it can become an integral part of the image.
One other possibilty is totally backlighting the subject, and overexposing, which will likely result in high-key, but I like high-key!
regards~Bill

[EdNguyen]

Ed: I'm glad you appreciated the feedback. I may have seemed a little harsh(no pun intended), and I'm glad you didn't take it that way. I shoot many pictures, and a constant source of frustration is confronting the lighting conditions we are talking about, especially when the lighting is near perfect, and then suddenly clouds disapate and the sun is shining brightly! I might even curse under such conditions. I might have let that frustration out on your extraordinary image with my post, for it likely happened a few hours before the post. I take alot of flight captures, and although it is possible to take a stationary bird image by positioning yourself so you can't see the shadows(blocked by the bird), this is very difficult with birds in flight.
I have been trying to determine how it could be possible to get good images under these conditions, which a certainly compounded by the high contrast shadows of light colored bird like great and snowy egrets (BCNherons are pretty light except for the back). The conclusion is that with the wings in the full down position, and a good viewing angle, shadows can be cut to a minumum. There is also an advantage of bright light, as shown in your image, in that the contrast can accentuate feather detail, which is somewhat more subdued in soft light.
Another idea, that sometimes works, is what I call shadow play. If you can get a shadow of a head and bill on a wing surface, or some other interesting shadows arising from the subject on something else, like a tern flying low on a beach, for example, it can become an integral part of the image.
One other possibilty is totally backlighting the subject, and overexposing, which will likely result in high-key, but I like high-key!
regards~Bill

I couldn't have said it any better. Thanks for sharing your experience with me. I love learning from everyone here on BPN. That's why I signed up in the first place. The "shadow play" you alluded to is very interesting. I will try to incorporate it into my images in the future. You're right, in most of my BIF photos, shadows are rarely seen or very subtle. I have tried taking high-key backlit bird photos, and have found that the 800mm lens is very flare resistant, which helps a great deal in preserving contrast.