Green Heron

[Connie Mier]

Shot on Biscayne Bay this morning before the storm clouds came in.
Sony a700, 70-400mm Sony lens
1/800, ISO400, f5.6 @ 400mm
I cropped a significant portion out, probably 50% of the photo and I really tried to work the burned out highlights on the chest feathers, but still some hot spots.
Connie

[Randy Stout]

Connie:

Great eye, sharp, good BG.

You covered the hot spots. I find the composition a bit awkward. I wish I could see the rest of the cut off foot and leg at least. It might be interesting to see the original full frame image if care to repost it. Plus, share with us your thoughts, what story you are trying to tell.

Thanks

Randy

[Connie Mier]

Thanks Randy, I appreciate your comments. Here is the original. There isn't much story other than getting an uncluttered surrounding is what I hoped to get while spending a good 30 minutes with this bird. Finally, it poked out from the mangrove roots, partially. My goal with the original post was to get a clean close up of this bird as it stares intently. I really wanted to focus on the eye and stare of the bird. As you can see, I cloned out a few scraps of leaves.
Connie

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Connie:

That is a challenging one. The biggest problem is that large OOF branch in the foreground.

You could probably work with the leaves.

I think I would take a pass at really dimming the branch and leaves, but I fear it still won't be ideal.

I really like his intent stare, but don't see an elegant way to save this one.

Randy

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the crop idea and might crop even a bit more off the left. Pose and BG look good, too. I'm sure you can recover the highlights in your RAW converter using the recovery slider and/or curves adjustment. Maybe a bit more sharpening? I would remove the right foot.

[Stu Bowie]

Connie, I like the inquisitive pose, and just love that eye. How about cropping just where the top of the wing and neck intersect.

[Jeni Williams]

I like the repost and think that Stu's crop idea might work the best. See why you like the intent look and what you are after.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely image here , Repost looks fantasic IMHO
TFS