Great Blue Heron at Rest

[Jim Fenton]

I was creating images of head details of this Great Blue heron at Vierra Wetlands when this bird decided to preen it's back area and then propmtly fell asleep in the late afternoon sun.

As I was on my butt and too close rto move without disturbing the bird..... I couldn't get the entire body in frame and decided upon this as my final crop.

Background is OOF grasses and reeds some distance behind which I did blur further.

Nikon D2Xs, 500 AFSII, ISO 400, f 6.3, I/1000

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

Excellent exposure, sharp, well captured. Very peaceful/relaxed mood.

I really like the blue eyelid skin which picks up the lores.

If I had any space below, might try a crop with just a bit more there, but very nice as is.

Randy

[Jim Fenton]

I do have more available below randy...I just liked the sort of even grass borders above and below but I could certainly position it a bit higher in the frame.

[Roger Lauzon]

Great shot, excellent control of the light, very relax mood.

Roger

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

I think what is influencing my wish for more room below is the weighting and visual direction of the image. The lines of the image all seem to me to be pointing down, hence my feeling that a bit more space below might help. This gets into the purely personal taste arena , just how it struck me.

Cheers

Randy

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

killer bg`s color,details,light,pose!

[Dave Leroy]

Interesting pose and well done. I did not realize the area around eye was so blue. Also good for you to be able to keep the bird so relaxed calm. Dave

[Jamie Strickland]

I dont recall ever seeing a pose like this before in a picture, it looks quite relaxing to me, great background

[Stu Bowie]

Amazingly sharp Jim, and your choice of comp works well. The eye "make up" puts this over the top.

[Marina Scarr]

This is one of a kind. You have the blue eye and lores plus its crown waving around which really adds a special touch. I think the crop is spot on.

[David Fletcher]

This is one cool shot Jim. Not sure how you managed it, but this Heron looks a work of art! WD!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pretty cool, I like the sharpness, pose and BG and might crop a bit off the left.

[Danny J Brown]

Not easy to get a unique shot of a GBH but you've done it here. Colors are soft and sweet - beautiful.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm liking this one alot Jim. The colours, exposure, sharpness, pose...all work nicely together for a fine image.

[Brian Barcelos]

The BG really compliments this guys colors nicely. Great dof and love the two feathers sticking out of his head. Now if only the Great Blues around here were this easy going.;)Congrat

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful image this, nice comp, loved the light and nice moment captured.. congrats...

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Different and excellent. I don't mind the closed eye. This makes it intimate.

Szimi

[denise ippolito]

Jim, The closed blue eye makes this special. Very lovely composition.Details ,exposure and lighting are all wonderful.