Black Headed Heron

[Stu Bowie]

I spent yesterday morning shooting at the University of Pretoria. There is a small lake there with an island at each end. Quite convenient, as one is used for a morning shoot, and the other in the afternoon. Both are well populated with Herons and Egrets. This image is as shot, and left the small branches to balance the comp. I removed a few untidy branches.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/1600
F/6.3
ISO 400

Exp Comp +0.67
Hand Held.

[Doug Brown]

I like the balance that the branches give to the image. Nice wing spread and open-bill pose. Plenty of DOF at f/6.3. And the exposure is perfect.

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Stuart,
Love the wing spread and the open bill. I like your choice of leaving in the branches. It gives me a destination for the bird to land. I also like the overall color tone of the image. This is a nice looking species.

[stuart wanuck]

nice image clear and sharp good exposure congrats!

[denise ippolito]

Stuart, Nice pose!! I love the open mouth and your exposure looks great.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Very nice techs, pose, composition. I like the flared alulaes.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Connie Mier]

Beautiful capture, love that wing spread. I would be inclinded to remove the branches only becuase they are so minimal.

[Jeni Williams]

Well done Stu - like your comp as is and bird detail is well exposed.

[Harshad Barve]

Bang on exposure , lovely pose
liked the position of bird in frame
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Wow brother, great expo, pose and details.. those branches add well, congrats..

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a lot guys and girls. Much appreciated.