Night Heron Portrait

[Mike Godwin]

Nikon D300 with Nikkor 70-200 lens 1/160 f7.1 ISO 250 EV -0.3 Flash used, crop for composition

Since Artie mentioned the Night Heron in his beautiful Egret post, thought I would throw up a shot from earlier in the day when it was not so overcast. No touchups on the bird, just auto contrast, sharpen and crop.

[Adams Serra]

Hi Mike,
Great looking bird and nice BG. Looking forward to see you again soon.

[Myer Bornstein]

Great picture color excellent and nice crop. will see you in March

[Marina Scarr]

Killer image, Mike, and the BG and details are spectacular.

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly. You had a great BKGR. The sharpening on this one looks perfect. (Many of your blog images look over-sharpened--not sure of the cause.) The light, color, details, and COMP are all superb here. I wish for a teench more head turn. And I would lose the large white thingie on the lower mandible.

Did this bird ever show the red legs and bright blue lores that some of the breeders get? (I have seen that most on birds from the mid-Atlantic.)

[denise ippolito]

Mike, It was a pleasure to meet you. Gatorland is awesome. There are soooo many birds. Thank you for your hospitality.
Fantastic sharpness and details. I love the light and the BG.

[Robert Amoruso]

I agree with the others above Mike. You have shown me a lot of great looking images but this is a standout.

[Mike Godwin]

Thanks for the comments gang... I get lucky every now and then. :) Looking forward to seeing you all again, it truly is the best part of my job! Especially when folks bring me some ultra delicious white chocolate and killer sweet bread! Thanks Sally!!! :p

Artie - Blog page images are definitely over-sharpened, most go through 3 stages of reduction before they hit the blog size and are sharpened again. Never seem to have the time to spend on them, but they are just there for descriptive elements, not to show off my photo skills... or lack of them! ;) As for the Night Herons breeding colors, we have about 8 that hang around Gatorland and they can get quite colorful. Having never seen one from the mid-Atlantic, I have nothing to compare to. Great to see you again!

[Jim Crosswell]

A beautiful sharp and detailed portrait!

[kevinmat]

Hi Mike,
This is a wonderful image, good comp and great details. It was a pleasure to meet you Friday night (I was the tall Aussie guy!) See you again real soon.

[Aidan Briggs]

I agree with Artie on the head turn. I would also run NR on the BG. Great comp, BG colors, and exposure.

[Manjesh Lingamurthy]

Beautiful background, nice crop and well exposed image.

Manjesh

[Martin Wallis]

Perfect sharpness, nice BG. Wish I was in the states so that I could go on those photographic tours that you all seem to do so well on.
Cheers