Little Blue Heron

[Christopher Ciccone]

Here is one of my favorite photos from Florida back in February, I think because (to me) it's a little different from the usual heron portrait.
Photographed from the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp as he was slowly walking and scanning. (I suspect that many people have photos of this particular LBHE as he seems to be a regular in this area.) I snapped this just as he ducked under a low hanging branch and liked the way he was framed in the viewfinder.


Camera: Canon 50D
Lens: EF 100-400L @ 370mm
Exposure time: 1/25 sec
Aperture: f5.6
ISO: 400
Exposure compensation: -2/3
Metering: Matrix
Aperture Priority
Monopod used

Slight cropping, sharpening, etc in photoshop.

What could/should I have done differently?

Cheers,
Christopher

[John Chardine]

Hi Christopher- I must say I like the mood of this image, provided by the dark, blue/grey tones. There is a very artistic feel to the image as well. If you were considering a print for the wall, I think the image would be stronger if the curvy branch wasn't there. try to imagine it gone. Also I would remove the two small sticks lower right. Perhaps a slight lightening of the eye would work too.

[Kerry Perkins]

Christopher, what I really like about this image is the lovely blue color of the heron that is echoed in the water. Very nice. I also like the hunting pose, but I do think the branches take away some of the impact of the image. I think in this case less would be more. Looking forward to more, keep them coming!

[Christopher Ciccone]

Thank s for the feedback!

Here's a quick edit to remove the branch and brighten the eye a bit...


Better? (I fully admit that I might need to take a little more time with the retouching, but wanted to see if you think i am on the right track)

Cheers,
Christopher

[Julie Kenward]

Chris, I do like the repost better but I didn't really mind the stick going over his head - it really added to the reason for the different HA to me. I do like that you took out the shadow of the stick, though...that was bugging me. I'd also go back in and clone out that LRC with the blue water so it doesn't have that black angular triangle sitting there.

Great mood to this...really lovely and unusual pose!

[Desmond Chan]

I'm with Julie about the stick going over the head and that shadow in the water. I think though that if you remove that overhead stick, perhaps a tighter crop would be better for the final image.