GBH

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon 400mm f/5.6 + 1.4X
1/2000 sec f/8 ISO 1000

[Lance Peters]

HI Ian - Like the pose and the hairdo - a little more room at the bottom for the virtual feet? Not a fan of squarish crops - might have gone horizontal??
Might add a little bit of contrast to give it a little bit of POP - would also selectively sharpen the bird a little.
Could also remove the lighter lines in the BG if so desired.
Keep em coming :)

[Bill Dix]

Hi Ian. Nice pose, and I like the brown color palette. Agree with Lance's usual good comments; a bit more room on the right might help. It seems to me that the focus point might have been closer to the shoulder than the eye, but maybe a little selective sharpening of the head might help. Good one.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Ian - I agree with the others. to me it looks like the heron is staring intently at food that may be in the water but I want to follow the stare and it's cut off with the square crop. Nice shot.

TFS,
Rachel

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with everyone else's comments but wanted to add that you got some beautiful light here - that really adds another wonderful dimension to this portrait and helps set it apart from many others. Nice work.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, all. I'm curious, Lance, what you find generally wrong with square crops? I agree that a bit more room on the right wouldn't hurt this one, but I've heard many make that comment about square crops and don't understand it. I think I have a bit more room, but have to go back and look. I'll also go sharpen some more.

[Arthur Morris]

This is a moderately worn young bird. I love the crest. I am fine with SQ crops; this one is just a bit tight all around. And I would not have minded more room in front. The one problem that nobody has mentioned is that the shoreline intersects with middle of the bird's head....

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Ian. Pretty much in agreement with comments, except the light direction was a bit too much from the right. You asked about square formats and here is my take; Matching the shape of the frame to that of the subject, or leading lines in the image, is compositionally very important.
Aside from the pschological aspects of either, such as horizontal being more peacefull or vertical suggesting tension, there are other advantages to either format.
For example, vertical formats, by removing peripheral vision, focus attention on the subject. This is a big advantage with avian portraits especially; distractions that might be on either side of the subject aren't visible.
Certainly the square format fits with circular or square subjects, where there are equal horizontal and vertical leading lines in the image, or a 45 degree (diagonal) leading line, but otherwise square formats have a static feel, and the dynamic aspects, and advantages, of horizontal or vertical formats are lost. regards~Bill

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for all the comments. Bill, that is one of the best arguments about frame shape that I've read.

[James Shadle]

Artie said: "The one problem that nobody has mentioned is that the shoreline intersects with middle of the bird's head...."

I the future you could avoid the shore intersecting the head by photographing from a higher or lower angle.