Brrrr!

[Doug Herr]

This Great Egret with its head tucked into its back was photographed on a foggy winter morning at a nearby (Sacramento County) fish hatchery:



technical stuff:

Camera: Leica R8 with DMR digital back@ ISO 400
Lens: Leitz 560mm f/6.8 with extension tube
Support: shoulder stock & monopod
Exposure: 1/125 sec @ f/6.8, metered manually

Slight crop top & bottom. All comments welcome.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I would like to have left about twice the space to the left of the bill tip. But this definitely is so different and appealing. I like it a lot. Plenty of detail and exp seems fine. :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Interesting composition and good details. It might also work with a tad more space top and left and maybe a bit more saturation?

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto my two friends above. Very sharp on the eye for 1/125th handheld.

[Doug Herr]

Thanks all for the constructive comments. Not sure how others feel about this sort of manipulation but I might have other photos from this session that have more space on the left and stitch that piece onto this photo (this exposure has the best posture/focus IMHO).

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Doug, When folks mention the need for more room on the right, it suggest in part that you might have composed the image differently at the time of capture. Adding canvas after the fact is of course a personal decision.

[Arthur Morris]

Please explain what you mean by "metered manually."

[Doug Herr]

Please explain what you mean by "metered manually."

I used the camera's spot meter in manual mode, & opened a stop to push the histogram to the right.

Hey Doug, When folks mention the need for more room on the right, it suggest in part that you might have composed the image differently at the time of capture. Adding canvas after the fact is of course a personal decision.

Understood... working conditions at the time (including the dumb decision not to bring a shorter lens) prevented including more on one side w/o losing some on the other. I was stuck between the pond's bank, dense brush and rocks, and moving a couple of inches to either side would have put a dark tree trunk in the UL corner which I felt would have detracted from the image. Backing up wasn't an option.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Doug,
re:

I used the camera's spot meter in manual mode, & opened a stop to push the histogram to the right.

Thanks. Best to include that info in each post.

Understood... working conditions at the time (including the dumb decision not to bring a shorter lens) prevented including more on one side w/o losing some on the other. I was stuck between the pond's bank, dense brush and rocks, and moving a couple of inches to either side would have put a dark tree trunk in the UL corner which I felt would have detracted from the image. Backing up wasn't an option.

Impossible situation? Not at all. You need to learn to think digitally. While holding focus after creating this image, simply point the camera a bit to the left from the same exact position. When you get back home it is a simple task to create a stitched panorama using either a QM, Fle/Automate/Photomerge or a combination of the two.

Then you have the best of both worlds: the best image and no ethical concerns.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, excellent image. I am a big fan of bird closeups. Here's one more suggestion as you had no chance to back up. Hold the camera at a slant...left hand higher than right. That will make the bill diagonal giving you more space in front of the beak. Since there is no concept of horizon or level in this image, it would have worked, right?

I do that frequently when I shoot flowers.