Heron On Heron

Byron ....Your practicing on Comp is paying off ......you nailed it
Love. the different angle on the silhouette.If this were my shot I may want to clean up the debris on the top BG it would make for a stronger presentation.Great eye by the way
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Byron,

One of the most wonderful things about NPN are the members who will give you honest critiques, those critiques will help you learn and become a better photographer. Another thing that will improve your photography is to look carefully at other people's images, throughly evaluate them and comment on them. You will learn as much from giving honest critiques as you do from getting them and it will help you in the field to set up your shots and to expose & compose them. It will become second nature. If you are serious about nature photography then this is the place to be.

I would advise avoiding midday light for avian photography unless atmospheric conditions provide a filtering of light, for instance high thin clouds or slightly overcast days. Morning and late evening light is wonderful and can provide a lot of drama or mood to an image, many of my best shots have been taken just after the sun has risen or just before it sets.

The light in this image is harsh and appears to have washed out the rich colors of this species. No amount of added saturation & contrast in postprocessing can look as beautiful as an image taken in good natural light will.

I like the simplicity of your composition and the inclusion of the flora at the top does not bother me too much. A lower angle though may have made this shot work much better, as presented I feel like I am looking down at the bird from a boardwalk or some thing similar.

I like the glassy smooth water and how I can see into the water where the heron's reflection is.

Welcome to NPN's Avian, I look for ward to seeing more of your work.

Byron, welcome to NPN. Mia, gives good advice and suggestions. The inclusion of the vege works for me. I do agree with Mia, that a lower angle is almost always better. It brings the viewer into the image, makes them a part of it. High angles tend to make the viewer feel dominating over the bird. Most of the time not the feeling I want images to invoke in me. The bright sun has washed things out and the image looks oversharpened. To me the feathers look very "crispy." I suggest backing off on the sharpening and sharpening only the bird not the whole image. If it is OK, I suggest posting full techs with your image posts if you want to get the most of the critiques people provide. They really do help. Please take my comments for what they are, as they are meant to help you improve your image making. I really look forward to seeing more over your work and the comments you have on others work. Cheers.

Welcome to NPN..it is a great place to learn. Mia & Ron have given some great feedback that you can take into the field. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the near future.

Hi Byron and welcome to NPN. I agree with the other suggestions already made about low anle and harsh light. Since you are mostly asking about the comp....I like what you did with this angle (even though I normally would prefer a lower one). I like the water and the reflection. I didn't really care for the upper reflection of the vegatation though and might clone that out. Ithink it takes away from the possibly powerful comp you presented.

Nice work,good composition.
lstván

love that you included the reflection of the reeds and the water ripples as counterpoint elements, very lovely comp!

Welcome Byron, I like your comp a lot here including the vegetation. I'd try backing off the sharpening some and possibly reducing your exposure and/or contrast a little bit on this one. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Byron, welcome to NPN! There has already been a lot of good feedback here. I like the ripples on the water and the detail in the bird's reflection (if you tone down the exposure, you may want to apply it to the rest of the image using a layer mask and leave the reflection as is). The angle is interesting, but feels a bit off to me, as it makes me feel like the bird is cowering beneath the photographer (not saying this was the case, it's ust the feeling it evokes in me). I like your comp and do not find the reflected vegetation to be a negative.

Welcome to NPN, this is a great place to learn about Avian photography. For me, the composition is very interesting but the angle of view kind of throws me off a bit. The vegetation at the top does not bother me however the heron does seem bright and a little over sharpened. I like the approach of trying to get a good composition within a bird image but you may find that is very hard to do unless the bird does stay still for a while (which most birds do not). Looking forward to seeing more of your photographs.