March theme: Straight down the barrel GBH

[Duane Noblick]

In December of last year I was photographing this Great Blue Heron and decided to take some head on shots just for fun...this is the result.



Canon 7D, 500mm f/4L + Canon 1.4II extender, ISO 500, 1/200" @ f/8, cropped

[Randy Stout]

Duane:
This fits the theme to a T. Looks rather peeved at you. Would not want to be a fish seeing this view!
Sharp, well exposed, love the single white feather on the crown on the left sticking out a bit.

DOF is always a challenge for this type of shot. Not possible usually to get the entire bill and eyes sharp, but if I have time, I will focus at several different spots along the bill to try and get the best compromise of bill and eye sharpness.

Lots of fun.

Cheers

Randy

[Grady Weed]

He fits the theme! The look says; I'm hungry, lets eat. Agree with Randy on the rest.

[Bill Dix]

Great capture and comp. Good critique by Randy.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Duane, this is such a fun image. I'm loving the comical look and the exquisite detail on the head. More DOF would've been nice, if possible, but I like it as presented as well.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Duane,

Excellent feather detail and expression captured. Eyes are nice and sharp and fit the comp and theme beautifully.

[Duane Noblick]

Thanks everyone. I had no light to work with (overcast conditions) and an extender on so I was limited with my shutter speed. I guess I could have upped the ISO to increase either my ss or dof but this happened too quick and not an image I like taking anyway....

This Heron is a character though and always willing to pose for the camera when nothing is out and about. It had just got done fishing in a canal near the Eagles nest I follow so it was pretty content when I came upon it.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Quite the character!! Perfect theme image With the limited DOF at least you got the focus bang on the eyes. Did you need to lighten the eye on our left?