Classic GBH pose (juvie).

[Daniel Cadieux]

This young Great-blue Heron was one of five found around the same smallish local urban pond last weekend (4 young + 1 adult). They were somewhat skittish but I was able to slowly crawl quite close to this guy - while manoevring between the many goose droppings! At this point there was a bit of drizzle thus creating a wet, and darker look on the plumage (especially on the wings). With the lack of sun I was able to position myself to take advantage of the dark green reflection in the water at an angle that would have otherwise been against the light (love those clouds!!)

Canon 40D + 100-400L @285mm, manual exposure (@-2/3 stop metered value), aperture priority, 1/125s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, full-frame. NR applied selectively to BG.

[Brian Barcelos]

Hey Daniel, Very lucky find getting a juvenile. You did great on the exposure, nice BG and eye. I love the half grown plumage on him. I do feel that he might be a bit over sharpened though. Congrats.

Brian

[Ilija Dukovski]

I like the composition here, the dark BG and light ground, the bird is nicely positioned and
the dark plumage makes a good feel too.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Great comp. and exposure. I agree about being over-sharpened.

[Connie Mier]

Hi Daniel, I like the comp and very nice details on the feathers. It doesn't seem oversharpened to me, but then again, I own an old pair of eyes.
Connie

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, getting down and dirty has paid off with the angle here. I like the concentrated stare, and hopefully he combed his creat after the rain. He stands out nicely against the darker BG. Does this not need a bit of a CCW rotation, as his left leg looks as if its leaning. I may be wrong as they could stand like this.

[Bill Foxworthy]

Very nice capture of this youngster Daniel. I too like the darker feathers against the dark background. A favorite of mine.