I love the foot position here, full down wing position.
I would prefer the bill not be shaded by his own wing, and even better if no merge, but not easy to capture this pose.
To my eye you have lost all the detail in the whites on the shoulder area. I suspect the whites in that area are overexposed. It would be worthwhile to try a reconversion of the raw file, but I am not overly optimistic about the amount of detail available.
This is a challenging exposure situation, a white bird against a darker background. You were on the right path with negative EC, but needed even more.
Scott, I like the forward wing position, together with hanging feet. The shoulder area does look hot, and I know with whites birds, at certain angles with the light, you can blow one area, with the rest being spot on.
Interesting discussion about the lack of detail on the shoulder area. I see this quite often(lack of detail) usually on an upper wing surface of great and snowy egrets and I know it is not always because the whites are clipped. It has to do with how detail shows up when color is not involved. Detail (or texture) of pure white objects need to be defined by shadow, and certain light angles do not create shadows (perpendicular). I'm not saying thats what happened here, but that it can happen.
About this image; IMO saturation needs to be increased. It looks desaturated. The bill should be light pink, the legs greenish yellow. regards~Bill
Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 12-23-2010 at 12:51 AM.
Regarding the bill overlapping the wing -- in this case with the dark background the bill would "wimp out" and maybe lost in the gray background. I was aware of the criteria for the head to be separate from the wing but in this case I thought this exception was better than the bill being lost in the background. Here the black bill can be plainly seen against that far white wing.
William -- I have several pictures of young Little Blue Herons and have not seen a pink bill on any of the youngsters.
Hi Scott, it was getting late last night and I'm pretty sure the bills are not pink, but more of a lavender. I'll check my archives later tody. Nonetheless, I do recall the colors standing out against the white plumage, which in my memory at least seemed more saturated than in this image. I'll get back to you about this.....regards~Bill
Hi Scott, I've included an image I took earlier this year of why I was remembering a pink bill, abiet it is not all pink. Also the colors of the bill are paler, and less saturated than I remembered. regards~Bill