American Bittern

[Anita Rakestraw]

Taken in the fall of this year at Quivira Wildlife Refuge.

9-05-2009, 6:20 p.m.
1DMkIII, 500 mm + 1.4 ext.
BLUBB on car hood
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1250

[Cheryl Flory]

I like that you included its habitat, yet kept most of it out of focus. great eye contact

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Love it as presented. Thought maybe some off the bottom but need room for virtual feet,..not sure how long they might be?

Exposure techs are solid, you present nice HA and a great eye and I love the inclusion of the grassy habitat - strong image!

[Lance Peters]

Classic Bittern pose (At least in my parts) like the included habitat - good HA and eye contact.
Like this - A LOT!!

[Craig Markham]

Nice capture, Anita. The wetland sedges surrounding the bird give good habitat context, and the insect in the bird's bill is a nice touch too. You kept ample space in front of the bird for its "virtual feet", but for this image, I think that created a little too much OOF foreground. The sedges on the far right lead the eye away from your subject, so I would also crop in from the right. This would increase the prominence of the bird without losing significant habitat information.

Here's a demo of what I have in mind (I hope that's OK with you). I cropped mostly from the bottom and right, decreased the overall brightness and increased contrast slightly to bring up the warm browns in the feathers while preserving the whites. To increase the sense of depth and bring the bittern forward visually, I selectively darkened the upper BG with NIK Software's Viveza 1.0 (A CS4 add-on).

These specific tweaks may not be your cup of tea, but I think it illustrates that you captured an excellent field image that you can optimize further if you wish -- especially if the original is a RAW file.

[kostas nianiopoulos]

i think this is a good image Anita .. im not any specialist about the birds but at last i like what i see ... the only thing is bother me a little bit is this grass on the bottom is out of focus .... but let the others talk that they knows better in about birds in here ... well done .

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Anita,
I like this as is, I like the capture, you have good color rendition, fine details, a good head angle and sharp eye...the habitat looks good to me...:) Keep them coming...:cool:

[Richard Waas]

Anita, I agree with a little cropping on the right and bottom. The OOF grass draws my eye just a tad. Love the HA and the detail in the eye. Great capture..... Congrats!!

[Anita Rakestraw]

Thanks, everyone, for looking and providing suggestions - all good ones, I think. I also think there's a bit too much oof at the bottom but am not sure how long the legs/feet are. :confused: