Great Blue Heron

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sony A-700~Sony70-400G@400mm~ISO400~1/500sec~F7~5/2/09~Quintana, Texas
I just posted the image, and immediately noticed noise in the background. Earlier I contemplated on blurring the background, as it seemed somewhat distracting. I'd select the heron, create a new layer, and applying a nice blur to the bottom layer. That would take care of that nasty noise as well. I don't know, is it that bad as it is?
comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

I would try to crop this a little tighter to emphasize the action :) Nice catch for both of you :)

[Stu Bowie]

I feel your comp works fine as is Bill. This is sharp, and his catch a bonus. The noise is visible, and if you run some NR on it, it will improve the image.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice, I don't think noise is bad at all, looks like two fish in one stroke!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the light, head angle and the food items add to it. I would sharpen the bird a bit less and don't find the BG noise too bad. If you blur the BG it might not look too good since the grass is not far behind the bird. The image looks a bit too warm on my monitor and I would lower the color temperature a few degrees.

[Alan Murphy]

I would not have seen the noise if you had not mentioned. Great detail and I like how the fish is curled around the bill.

[David Hemmings]

William, nice pose and I like the comp and good details, just run a little nr on the bg and it will be perfect.

[Morkel Erasmus]

super catch and details here. agree - just run a little NR on the BG and it's sorted. blurring would not improve the image IMO

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thanks for the critique. Axel's comments about the oversharpening explains alot. I really didn't need sharpening much at all with the original, and only did it for web presentation. Got carried away I suppose, and as is the usually the case, noise was introduced, showing up in the background. That is what surprised me, only seeing it after posting.
regards~Bill

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hi Bill
A tighter crop for me too mate. Still lovely catch for both of you. Well captured. I cannot say about color temp, this monitor is whacked at my work. :)