Cattle Egret

[Austin Thomas]

This was taken in Majorca last month on a blisteringly hot day. Fortunately I was the only person in the hide, so I was able to leave the hide door open in hope of a breeze.

The Egret was clearly complaining about something, maybe the open door, who knows....

C&C Welcome.

Canon 1DMK4, 500mm, 1.4x, f5.6, 1/2500, ISO200.

Cheers

Austin

[Robert O'Toole]

Austin,

I think the poor thing is complaining about the heat!

I like the habitat and the cool tones in the BG. I would run NR and use a mask to lighten the colors a little more.

Are you sure its a CE? The beak and legs dont look right, is it a juvenile?

Robert

[Robert O'Toole]

Lightened with a curves layer and a simple layer mask. The darker version is more dramatic but the lighter version shows the BG colors much better I think.

Robert

[Arthur Morris]

Another good job by Robert :) I do believe that this is a young CAEG. I think that the bird is complaining because it is being stabbed in the wing by the stiff stalk of the plant. I like the prefect EXP, the head angle, and the open bill.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Nice, sharp image of what I have always thought of as a grotesquely ugly bird.

I thought the original post was too dark although preserving the whites; so prefer the brightened version from Robert.

But, I remain confused by the "perfect EXP" comment. Is that saying sufficient to the right without blowing the whites, thus allowing for necessary adjustment of the mid-tones?

Whites are tough!

Regards,

Gerald

[Austin Thomas]

Hi Robert, Thanks for the repost. It is a good alternative and I will take a look at a curves adjustment on my own computer.

I agree with Artie that this is a young Cattle Egret.

Thanks again

Austin

[Arthur Morris]

Nice, sharp image of what I have always thought of as a grotesquely ugly bird. I thought the original post was too dark although preserving the whites; so prefer the brightened version from Robert. But, I remain confused by the "perfect EXP" comment. Is that saying sufficient to the right without blowing the whites, thus allowing for necessary adjustment of the mid-tones? Whites are tough! Regards, Gerald

Hi Gerald, Good to see you here. First off, yes, a perfect exposure for me is one pushed to the right with possibly a few easily recoverable flashing highlights. (Remember, we are looking at the more contrasty JPEG on the back of the camera; it is more sensitive to blinkies than the RAW files. To my eye, the whites in the two images are very close if not identical. I prefer either the original post with the darker BKGR or possibly something in between. That does not make either Robert or me either right or wrong; the tonality of the midtones (as well as of the whites and blacks) are quite subjective :) As long as you have detail in the whites and in the blacks you are good to go.

Does that make any sense?

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Artie,
Thanks for your thoughts. I hadn't thought in terms of the whites on both versions being close or identical. I need to spend more time on sharpening my PP skills, I think.

Best wishes,

G.