Above it all

[wendell westfall]

D90 70-200VR@200 1/4000 f9.0 ISO400 -1 1/3EV handheld

A couple morning's ago I watched this egret fly from tree to tree. This temporary perch was about 50 feet up on the very top of a leafless tree. Consequently, the image needed and was given a heavy Crop -- in LR. NR was then run. And lastly, in PS Elements, a very short piece of branch was cloned out where it touched the bird's body just above its left leg, and USM was lightly applied.

Wendell

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Wendell,

I like the looking away pose and the whites look good overall. Might be a hot spot or two. Maybe -1 2/3, easy to say after the fact. Nice job with smaller aperture given the bright scene, where was point of focus. The crop will be an area of debate. Probably need more canvas at the bottom, let's see what others say. I like the moment in nature, what a beautiful bird.

[carole wiley]

I like the pose and bird seems sharp. The head and neck seem to have much more detail than the body feathers, I wish there was some detail there. I like the beautiful bird pictured against the stark, lifeless branches.

[Rachel Hollander]

Wendell - I like the pose and looks sharp despite the crop. I agree there are a couple of hot spots on the body lacking detail and I also see a slight greenish cast to the head and neck.

TFS,
Rachel

[Kerry Perkins]

Wendell, some good things going on as mentioned above but first and foremost there are just too many twigs. I like the s-curve of the neck and the look-back pose, but to make a good egret shot from this I would start cloning like a madman. I would start by cropping off the entire twig on the right, then crop some from the left to make it a vertical, then get busy making the bird more prominent by pruning the shrubbery.

[wendell westfall]

Jeff, Carole, Rachel and Kerry: Thanks for your critiques. Very helpful . . . I can't disagree with any of them, though I did hope the branches/habitat look would be more "captivating."

[Kerry Perkins]

Wendell, I like the fact that you were including habitat in your image. Would be easier on the eyes if there were some leaves to add color to the scene.

[wendell westfall]

Kerry, in fact a few leaves might help, but only a very few from my point of view, since I was aiming for a contrast between the "alive" white bird and the "dead" habitat. But this is only a matter of taste -- there is room for wide differences, obviously. Recently, I submitted five pictures in a competition and three were accepted for display (one even got a prize), but one of those declined was by far my favorite . . . so much for my taste. (Even my son-in-law predicted it would not make it; he hated it) I learn something on this site with every posting.