Little Blue Heron itch

[Tom Palmer]

This Heron posed for several minutes on a post, used the car as a blind.
Costa Rica, 12-19-11
Canon 7D, 400mm f5.6 L
IOS 400
1/1250, f/5.6

[Randy Stout]

Tom:

Very soft light, neat pose, good background, like the comp.

Not a bad looking post as such things go.

The very soft light has left the contrast quite low, which tends to give the impression of lower sharpness. I would hit the sharpening on the bird a bit more.

Cheers

Randy

[Randy Stout]

Tom:

I had a minute to work on your image. Used Color Efex Pro, Tonal contrast to increase the local contrast on the bird, then sharpened slightly more with Pixel Genius PhotoKit Sharpener.

You can do a better job on the original of course, but I think it gives the image a bit more bite, without removing the soft light feel.

Cheers

Randy

[gail bisson]

Very nice pose and light but head looks soft. Would try Randy's suggestion or selective sharpening on the head,
Gail

[Joe Senzatimore]

Randy's re-post works wonders. Fine image with lots of potential. Worth the effort.

[Tom Palmer]

Randy,
Thanks for the advice and for making the improvements.
Tom

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Tom, neat scene you got here with post and yellow/green background...something we normally associate with farmland birds so this is nice to have something different for a wader. I like the scratching pose with the foot parallel to the neck. Techs look good, the image just needed a bit more punch and sharpening as Randy has nicely demonstrated.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent image. Love the scratching pose, love the background, great detail, real nice light, and composed well.
Well done.