Grey Heron shaking his feathers.

[Levina de Ruijter]

My first post in this section...

Taken late afternoon with a low sun coming from the right which wasn't ideal, but I like how the image turned out.

Canon 40D with 300 f/4
ISO 400
f/5.6
1/400s
HH
Manual
Spotmetering

PP was basic. But I did add a bit of extra blur to the background to isolate the bird more and I cloned out some chunks of bread at the bird's feet.
On the whole I'm not a fan of square crops, but in this case it seemed the best choice. I only wish the grass were cleaner and prettier...

Thank you for looking.

[Humberto Ramos]

Nice capture, the bird is looking fine, I wish the bird with a better head angle toward us, I also would give a little selective sharpening in the head.

[Randy Stout]

Levina:

Congrats on your first Avian forum post.

I think the lighting angle worked well here to show more of the texture in the feathers, while still having enough light on the face. The back of the head and neck look a bit hot, perhaps not blown, but close, and I would consider toning those areas down slightly.

I am OK with the grass, doesn't look too manicured, and you certainly could do a small crop from the top to get away from the square crop if it bothers you.

I might tone down the hot spot right behind the head in the background.

Cheers, and look forward to more.

Randy

[Dave Leroy]

Good timing on capturing the bird all fluffed up.

I also like the pose and would have been really top notch with a slight head turn.

Does photo need a bit cw rotation? It could be the angle of the shadows in bg throwing me off.

Nice job on the framing as well. Looks good.

Looking forward to more.

Dave

[Cody Covey]

Good timing on capturing the bird all fluffed up.

I also like the pose and would have been really top notch with a slight head turn.

Does photo need a bit cw rotation? It could be the angle of the shadows in bg throwing me off.

Nice job on the framing as well. Looks good.

Looking forward to more.

Dave

I thought that at first it needed some CW rotation as well, but now I'm thinking its because of the blur in PP. The blur seems to start lower on the left side than it finishes on the right side. Or is that just my eyes playing tricks on me?

The bird seems to be pretty well exposed other then the hot piece on the neck already discussed but there is still detail there so i bet it could be toned down a bit

[Levina de Ruijter]

Thanks everyone for the comments.
As to the blur seeming to run a bit diagonally, I think you're right. It never occurred to me that the horizon could be tilted as the bird was on a slope going down to the river, but looking at the raw file, yes, the image does need some CW rotation. Amazing that I missed that...
As for the light area on the back of the head, it's not blown, but I see your point and will tone it down a bit.

Again many thanks for commenting.