This was taken with a Sony DSC H5 (an advanced P&S with a 12x optical zoom and a 1.7x screw on telextender). It was set on shutter priority at 1/1000 sec and hand held. It has been cropped and PS since the LHS had a great blue heron feeding her chick and there was an anhinga perched on a branch and partially masked by the egrets feathers on the right.
Hi Doug, Thanks for the comment. I have always envisaged an image like this but never thought I would be lucky enough to get such a capture. One has to be very fortunate with respect to timing and lighting especially when you are on a tight time schedule.
Wow Morris, what a striking image! Congratulations for such a great capture, I have seen many Great White Egret images on these boards and elsewhere and never once seen this pose. (Is it part of a mating display?)
I love the backlighting here as it illuminates those plumes and makes them the main focus of the image, but it also lifts the whole bird off a potentially cluttered background of branches, etc. The balck and white treatment you have used here also minimise any distraction by the background. The bird's pose, neck shape and head angle are all good and make this image even stronger, and even the lack of a catchlight in the eye doesn't bother me here.
The only things I can see that I might change are to perhaps make what looks like Dodging to the shadow side of the bird a bit more subtle and possibly try some selective Burning on the brighter parts of the background at the top right of the image.
An excellent image, well executed (exposure, composition and image processing) on a camera few people would consider using for 'proper' bird photography. Thank you, you have made my day. :-)
PS. The only other change I might consider is putting a little bit more under the bird, eg. if you cropped it out maybe just add a bit back at the bottom, to see whether it improves the image or not.
Hi Julian. Thanks for the comments and suggestions. As far as I know it is a display of breeding plumage during mating season. I shall apply some of those specific editing suggestions. Thanks again.
Great Egret Display, Venice FL
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