Hi Y'all,
D200 and 300mm f/4
ISO 200, Matrix Metering, f/4, 1/5000 sec, ev adj -0.67
Hi Y'all,
D200 and 300mm f/4
ISO 200, Matrix Metering, f/4, 1/5000 sec, ev adj -0.67
Nice wing position, good exposure of the whites. If this was mine, I'd get rid of the blue on the bottom (crop and/or clone in the yellow). I'd also clone out the dark blob below the egret's beak. There's a sizable sharpening halo around the legs - would back off on the sharpening there.
A nice flight pose and good framing and detail, but the image looks somewhat oversaturated to me. I think the image would benefit from lightening the midtones.

I thought the whole thing was too yellow.
I desaturated a bit and cleaned up the lower area a little. A better job could be done there, but this gives an idea. I think the big issue with this image is that the bird is split by the transition from ground to sky along the horizon.
I Iike Jim`s repost!
I'd go for something in between the original and the repost.
Thanks for commenting Dieter. I agree about the defocused tree under the beak. I took a look at the image again on my PC and didn't see any halos around the legs at 100%, at 200 % I started to see some black edges around the upper head and wings but no halo on the legs until 300%.

We were talking about this during the IPT and some monitors (and mayhaps some eyes) don't show halos as readily as others. There is a noticeable light line along the bottom edge of the lower leg. One way to find it is to pull the image down and do a USM pretty heavy and look for the line. Once you find it, it is easier to see without the extra processing to bring it out.

Yes, Bicubic Sharper will bring out the halos. Also, you shouldn't sharpen until after the resize.