Snowy Egret Portrait

[Richard Stern]

Taken in Tortugero N.P., Costa Rica recently. D7000, 300 f/4 AF-S. ISO 800. /3200 at f/6.3, with -2/3EV. I did some exposure adjustments on the bird and some darkening and blurring on the background. There was no catchlight at all in the original, so after much thought I added what you see. I also added canvas to the left. I'm Eager to Learn here - especially the exposure issues, the placement of the bird in the frame, and whether the catchlight looks appropriate.

Thanks,

Richard

[Doug Brown]

Hi Richard. Tortuguero can be really tough; white birds against dark BGs are common, and the exposure compensation required can often be greater than three stops. It looks like you did quite well protecting your whites, and the added canvas looks good. I'm not a big fan of the catchlight, and I see a halo above the bird's head. There's also some BG noise, most noticeable in the LLC.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Richard, I am alright with the catch light looks good to me. The exposure techs are solid nice job exposing for the whites. The -2/3 was a good choice, there might an occasional hot spot however on balance well exposed. I might consider a curves adjustment to add more texture to the whites.

I had to think about it, but like the composition with the curled neck and rectangular frame. Nice eye and regal pose, might work the LLC and LRC for noise and background smoothing as reference by Doug.

This is a nice picture, good subject, complementary background and nice detail. Was this HH, thanks for sharing and keep em coming.

[John Chardine]

Hi Richard- Late on this one (Antarctica got in the way!). This is a real great portrait. The only thing I would do is reduce the noise in the BG.