Mirror Mirror on the Wall
From my first trip of the season to Gatorland last evening. I just love the sublime water at the rookery as the sun sets. As always Mike Godwin was the perfect host who makes everyone feel at home.
Note: I never have a problem losing sharpness when posting here. I must have tried a dozen different saves. It keeps looking soft in the preview so I give up and here it is warts and all.
MKIII, EF500, 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 400, HH.
Last edited by Mike Tracy; 02-27-2010 at 02:43 PM. Reason: Forgot techs.
You've gotta love these guys in their breeding plumage! Beautiful colors in the water, as you say. Bird is shap and well positioned. I always find the whites hard with their subtle textures and coloring, plus the Web posts never quite look like the original image. I'd be tempted to use the targeted adjustment tool on the highlights to emphasize those subtleties.
I believe I was standing next to last evening you shooting the same bird. Mine did not turn out as nice as this.
I like the crop/reflection very much, as well as the detail in the reflection. The eye contact between the bird and its reflection gives a good interaction within the image. I also like that the bird/reflection gives the image a depth that is hard to achieve (for me anyway) in photographs that have birds in water - the viewer knows where the water line is.
The one feather in the water is a nice touch.
I think that the whites on the bird look a bit hot on my monitor but detail is there.
Deb
Hi Mike, Love the mirror image and water color, the whites also look a tad hot to me so I pulled the image into PS and some of the values on the Egret were around 254.
Don Lacy
You don't take a photograph, you make it - Ansel Adams
There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs - Ansel Adams
http://www.witnessnature.net/
https://500px.com/lacy
the water is sweet and the breeding plumage fantastic, but that feather in the water adds tension to an otherwise peaceful scene. nice find!! the reflection is unbelievable!!
Love the display of the mating feathers and the beautiful eye. The reflection and the littlle circular ripples made by the beak really add a lot to this image. Florida sun can really be tough on the whites. A very lovely composition and thanks for sharing Mike.
Thank you everyone for your comments. I really muffed this one up for web presentation it would seem. The whites in the raw file are spot on but I agree here they don't look so good.
Hey Mike, was great seeing you this year. Despite the "web warts" this is a great image with lots of interesting elements... reflection, ripple, feather, light and background. I like it!
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