Tricolored Heron Looking Up

[Garry Gibson]

I took this shot at Shark Valley this week. I have the feet but adding the long
legs takes a lot of the focus off the head so I cropped it this way.
Busy background, I know. I moved all around and this was the best it got.

7d 100-400L
ISO 400
400MM
F7.1
1/1250
Small amount of luminance noise reduction on bird
Background masked with full noiseware noise reduction and some surface blur
Smart Sharpen on the bird

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Garry, I've given a lot of though to this one as far as the crop. I'm inclined to think that the bit of legs makes me want to see the feet also. For a "3/4" portrait shot I would probably crop just above the legs.

Aside from that though, this is a very nice image! This is a tough bird to get from the front due to DOF issues and it looks like you got focus somewhere around the middle of the neck. Not sure what your shooting distance was, but at 400mm DOF becomes pretty shallow when you are up close. Color rendition looks good, was it late afternoon or early morning? Very nice composition with the curve of the neck, head angle and excellent eye contact. Some fairly hot pixels in the breast, could maybe have used a third of a stop less light.

Good one Garry! :)

[Garry Gibson]

Kerry I will try another crop, get above the legs and maybe that
green stem on our right bottom.
Thanks for your comments. As I said, I have the legs but he is a big bird
and it really lessens the impact of the head when you include them.
It was early morning, sun at my back.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Gary - I agree with Kerry re the crop would crop at the leg joint maybe or crop tighter.
as mentioned whites look a little hot in some spots - might be able to recover with a linear burn layer. - Sharp and good fine feather detail.
Keep em coming :)

[Lance Peters]

Hi Gary - I agree with Kerry re the crop would crop at the leg joint maybe or crop tighter.
as mentioned whites look a little hot in some spots - might be able to recover with a linear burn layer. - Sharp and good fine feather detail.
Keep em coming :)

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Gary,

Greetings. You might even try cropping up into the problematic hot spot on the breast and in a little from the right to bring the focus in to the eye and the nice feather detail of the head, neck and shoulder.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Garry Gibson]

Guys here is another crop and also I tried to get rid of the hotspot on the breast.
Let me know what you think.
GG

[Troy Lim]

After looking at both versions, I think you better off just crop above the hot spot, making it more of a closer portrait shot. Then burn the bright BG, makes the bird pop, I would make the bird pop more.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Garry

These birds will jump over the ditch and walk around on your side, just sit tight and wait for them :) On the far side not much you can do, the bg is so close to the bird even wide open won't do it !!!

Crop wise as presented would go with a tight crop taking most of the white away, just taking the legs out looks odd. For comparison just do the same for a person standing in front of you !!!

When you come into SV check out the canal before the gate for some night herons ... and get in there early, would park outside and walk in around six thirty or before !!! Looking forward to the next one !!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Gary, My preference is to crop to a point where you no longer see the white breast. Exposure,sharpness and HA on the bird are all good. Dark and brightly lit backrounds generally hurt this type of image...