Black-crowned Night Heron

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sony A850~Sony 70-400G@400mm~ISO1000~1/800 sec~F10~manual exposure~overcast~HH~3-18-2011~Brazos Bend State Park, Texas~CS5
Not much I could do about the duckweed, fortunately the area in the background was clear.
Comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill

[Ray Rozema]

composition, color, detail very good. The green 'seaweed ' on bills and feet big +. Might take a little off the rt and add a little to the left to uncenter the bird. Overall very good. If it had not been camera shy and would look into the camera would be over the top.

TFS

[Kerry Perkins]

Bill, I absolutely love this. I do agree with Ray about the crop, but everything else is wonderful. I am especially fond of the breeding plume and the way it curves around the bird's body. As I see it, he is looking right at the camera, just with his head down. Sweet image! I think the duckweed adds interest, it's almost like he's been standing there for so long that some algae grew on him!

[Bob Decker]

The textures are very nice, the pose/pov unusual. The centering of the image doesn't bother me too much on this one, though a little more negative space on the left might strengthen the image a bit. Well done.

[John Chardine]

Outstanding Bill. The "over the spectacles" look of the bird is very attractive. I try for this myself with gannets and other birds as it can be very effective. Love the sharpness too.

I am seeing a yellowish cast, even in the grey wings, which should not be reflecting anything from the veg. in the pond below- maybe they are? Using the Digital Color Meter here:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...the-whites-hot

I see the grey in the wing running 199:186:170 in RGB which shows more red and green than blue, which would produce the yellowish tinge. In my preferred colour space of LAB the greys are running roughly A = +2 and B = +9. The +9 in B indicates a yellowish cast.

Anyway, still love the image but it might be worth trying some colour correction just for fun.

[Paul Guris]

I agree with the comments above, especially about the weed. It really adds to the impact of the image, almost like you managed a photo of a bird in habitat while not showing the habitat. Very cool.

[Julie Kenward]

I love this one as well - the pose of the bird and the flip of the "hair" it all makes for a very interesting view. I'd also take a little off the right and add a sliver more to the left to let that flip of the hair have a little room. Awesome image, Bill!

[Linwood Ferguson]

Agreed on the duckweed, that is a huge plus, not a negative, in terms of interest.

[Stan Cunningham]

Just my opinion, but I like the bird centered and would not want the crop larger as it brings out the intensity of the image. Just how close you are/were. The nice background allows you to get almost a misty feel as well, Very nice job.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Appreciate the feedback! First Stan; I was close, I'd guess 10-12 feet. Often similar birds have favorite perches, and if you figure where they are you can situate yourself fairly close and wait. When, and if, the bird shows up you must either remain motionless or move very very slowly. I think the cropping suggestions are that the bird needs to be moved slightly to the right in the frame, and it sounds right to me, and it would't reduce the size of the bird in the frame.
John; the yellowish tinge is a problem, and part of the overall problem that I confront all the time with the green cast from the duckweed, and how deal with it in ACR and PS. Here the out of frame foreground was all duckweed.
I start (in ACR)with Tint and Color temperture sliders, then HSL/grayscale, and dropping the green (primarily) and yellow saturation. I am open to suggestions, especially when open in PS (color balance, etc).
I just noticed, when I looked at the EXIF, that I made an error in saying I used manual expose,which I use the majority of the time. Since the subject was so close, I realized I'd need to up the Fstop considerably (to F10), so I went to aperture priority +1 EC.
regards~Bill