Reddish Egret in Golden BG

[Don Lacy]

Not Sure about this one, image was made at Estero and the BG is the reflection of the Condos in the water. I think egret is getting lost in the BG but would like others opinions.

40D, 500 f/4, 1/800 at f/7.1, Manual Mode, Evaluative metered, ISO 400, Tripod, Small crop

[John Guastella]

It's a lovely shot Don with sweet pastel colors and a nice BG. Just needs some contrast boosting, maybe LCE with the USM (high radius/low amount).

John

[Tom Redd]

beautiful shot Don. A contrasting background would be nice, but this is a lovely shot as is. TFS. I enjoyed the shoot with you last weekend. Thanks.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The problem is that it looks a bit overexposed and washed out. I brought it in to PS and pulled down the midtones slider in Levels to about 0.80...what a difference! Perfect HA, and as per usual at Estero I love the condo reflections. I would have preferred the legs not touch together at the joint (taking a step left would have taken care of that), and I would crop more from the bottom (up to just above the reddish neck's reflection).

[Randy Stout]

Don:

Daniel gave a very good suggestion. Since I have a particular fondness for reddish egrets, I thought I would take a pass at it too.

In this example, I selected the background and ran a multiply layer on it. Helps the egret pop a bit. He is in peak breeding colors.

Cheers

Randy

[Don Lacy]

Thanks Daniel and Randy for your suggestions here is the version I settle on still not sure if I like but it is different enough that I will keep it.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Don, I think it's a great image with lovely colors but agree with Daniel's feedback. I think your repost is an improvement but I like Randy's version even more. JR