Little Blue Heron Reflection

[Patrick Sparkman]

I was organizing a few images from last year, and thought I would post this one. I have always loved the pink and purple color in the sky opposite a sunrise/sunset. This evening I was playing with flash after the sun had gone down trying to get some fill on the bird.

Overall I like the shot, but wanted to know what people think of the light streaks across the bird?

Canon 1Ds III, Canon 800, Better Beamer, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/160 sec., Basic adjustments in lightroom, Tim Grey D&B on bill.

[Arthur Morris]

I like everything about this one, especially that the head is angled away from the line of the body.... The light streaks are often present from reflected sunlight so they do not bug me. Could use some more room all around; do you have any? Lastly connecting the eyeball with the reflection of the eyeball confirms what I thought: it needs some CW rotation. Later bro'

ps: I still wanna do that stuff we talked about....

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Nice image overall. I am in two minds about the light rings on the plumage. I think they kind of fit but they don't. Maybe it's just that I have not seen these types of light effects often to appreciate them more. Your bird has nice details and may I ask what D&B is? Dodge/Burn? TFS. . . . .

[denise ippolito]

Patrick, Beautiful image and I love the reflection lines. I do think it may need a slight rotation as noted above. Very nice pose and sharp details.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Truly nice image!
Love everything about this one.

[Patrick Sparkman]

Thanks for the input Artie and Denise. I guess I needed to be a little more detailed and now really notice the rotation. Here is the image rotated to get the eyes vertical, and flipped to get the left to right viewer experience. Also removed a few highlights. This is most space around the bird available after the rotation. Without adding canvas of course.