Snowy Egret Portrait

[Bill Dix]

D90; 80-400 VR @ 400mm. ISO 400. f/8 @ 1/4000s. Matrix metering @ -1.3 EV. Aperture priority, AF-A. HH.

Sanibel Fishing Pier in late November. 9:20 AM, so sun was beginning to get a bit harsh. I believe I've kept the whites under control, but there's not a lot of detail in this light. This is full-frame, with minimal PP (lightened and de-sat'd BG; set black point; slight boost to sat on bird; NR on BG; selective sharpening on bird.) I have several others with more interesting 'hairdos', but this was the only one where I kept the bill parallel to the sensor plane. C&C always appreciated.

[Joe Brown]

I agree, you have kept the whites under control. I like the bg, sharp detail, pose and the composition with a nice crop. Well done Bill

Joe

[Gus Cobos]

Excellent capture Bill,
I like this one...your whites are in check, you have a good head angle and sharp eye contact...the blue sky compliments him quite well...good show...keep them coming...:D:cool:

[Harold Davis]

kinda reminds me of one of artie's recent posts. well done! i like the detail in the whites and the clean, blue bg. i can only offer that cleaning up the specular highlights on the bill will make a nice improvement to an already nice image!!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Bill - like this a lot - love this in your face style portraits - whites look lovely, Good detail and BG sets the bird off nicely.
Well done!!

[Bill Dix]

kinda reminds me of one of artie's recent posts. well done! i like the detail in the whites and the clean, blue bg. i can only offer that cleaning up the specular highlights on the bill will make a nice improvement to an already nice image!!

Thanks Harold. I'll take it anytime I can remind you of one of Artie's, however big a stretch it might be. I'm not sure which are specular highlights and which are bits of sand or scratches, but there are a few distracting spots especially near the tip. I'll try to remove them. Thanks for pointing it out, and for the kind comments.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Bill Does look fine and you did well with the exposure keeping the white detail !!

Agree with Harold on the bill, Arite does go to great length getting rid of it and bill shine !!! ... btw we actually wait for birds to clean their bill before making the image .... and let them dry also to prevent bill shine !! Lots of the white you see at times is salt caked on the bill !!!

[Anita Rakestraw]

Very nice image, Bill! Don't know what I can add; agree about cleaning up the bill. Love the particular shade/tone of the background; sets off this bird beautifully.

[Bill Dix]

Hi Bill Does look fine and you did well with the exposure keeping the white detail !!

Agree with Harold on the bill, Arite does go to great length getting rid of it and bill shine !!! ... btw we actually wait for birds to clean their bill before making the image .... and let them dry also to prevent bill shine !! Lots of the white you see at times is salt caked on the bill !!!

Thanks Alfred. You must be a person of great patience, to wait for the bird to clean and dry his bill before shooting. This bird was in and out of the water every few minutes. But Photoshop may work where patience is lacking. BTW, I would not have thought of going to the Sanibel Fishing Pier were it not for your suggestion. Thanks.

[Oscar Zangroniz]

I like the way you framed your subject and the fine details. Also clean BG.
Regards