Heron

[Rachel Hollander]

Another one from Ding Darling on Sanibel Island. Taken just after sunrise. Unfortunately, in the area where I shot this there was no way to get lower.

Canon 7D
100-400 @ 220mm
1/640
f5.6
ISO 800
EC +1
HH, cropped from horizontal to vertical, levels adjustment and sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Rachel, since you mentioned the shooting angle I won't linger on it... I'm thinking that you could get a little more sharpness on this bird, would be worth a try! I would crop away a bit of the space on top, it really doesn't add to the composition IMO. I know it is just an illusion, but it looks like this image needs some CCW rotation. I think the bird is leaning forward, and the water ripples seem level, so I think he is just leaning in to check out breakfast opportunities.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Rachel. I think CCW rotation is called for. I think the image is underexposed which, as it usually does, impacts detail. Sensors are not as efficient at capturing digital information, such as details, at lower light levels (which is determined by exposure). Consequently lightening the darker parts of the image in post-processing usually results in the appearance of noise and no more detail. I do have a few questions about the lighting conditions, which you report was taken just after sunrise. The image exhibits a somewhat high-contrast profile; if you increased exposure of the dark parts of the image more than they were, the highlights would be clipped (I checked the histogram).
What this means is that even though the sun had just risen it was quite bright, and there were no clouds at the horizon to diffuse it (reduce the contrast). This would also suggest, at least in the morning, the sky was clear and cloudless.
Under lower contrast conditions (cloudy, overcast, etc,) it would have possible to increase the exposure of the dark plummage and get more detail, and still not clip the highlights.
So Rachael, what were the lighting conditions (aside from the time of day)?
regards~Bill

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Kerry and Bill for the comments. Bill - The sun was behind me but still low in the sky, I'm not sure it had cleared the trees yet, there were some low clouds and it had been fairly foggy prior to sunrise. I used +1.0 of EC but my guess is that I could have gone with more EC.

Thanks,
Rachel