Green Heron

Hi David,
Good job of getting a Green Heron on the wing. Where I shoot they are always flying low, fast and mostly for only short distances. Details look good and I find the background very acceptable.
Thanks for posting.

Ronnie G.

Ron, I find that I usually don't have more than a second or two to capture these shots either. Fast movers, always around reeds which mess with focusing, and not easy to get close to here either. Thanks for the comment about the background Ron. I really appreciate it. Almost didn't post it because of the background clutter. What do I know? Dave

David, Fine photograph! Good detail in the head, BG looks fine. Might be a bit of noise in the wing, hard for me to tell. Thanks for sharing.

Nice shot, David.
The background is rather busy, but it might be reduced a little with a slight pano crop removing some of the top.
Your HH technique looks pretty solid here, You might try backing down on the shutter a little to blend out the background some next time. I find it very pleasing as is.
Thanks for sharing this!
Neil

Very nice image of a tough flight subject. The BG doesn't bother me but it would be nice if it were a bit more blurred. I think Neil has a great idea to actually slow down the SS and pan with the heron to provide even more blur to the BG.

Glad you chose to post. I do not think the BG is bad and The bird is spot on.

Dan

THe background works well for me.

The bird is to die for. Excellent all around.

Mike

I don't find it cluttered. The bird is sharp enough to stand out against the reeds. I think there may be some noise in the wing. Either way, very nice.

sharpness and comp make background just fine. heron really pops here. good job

Lovely flight shot of this hard to find species - I wish it were flying a little more toward you but it's a great side profile with plenty of detail

- Luke

David- I think the background compliments the Heron beautifully. Nice work here, congrats.

Sweet flight shot David, I quite like the bg!

Very nicer, David. The bg is fine with me, too.

David,

I like the natural background in your photo, I don't think it looks cluttered. It is oof enough that is does not distract me and the heron stands out quite well from it.

Nice flight pose, colors and eye contact.

I find this BG nice and wouldn't change it (PS). Good flight capture also.

Very nice flight shot and details

Outrageously nice. What an amazing bird! Must have been tricky with the 400mm lens.

Terrific shot David. Very well done!!

Thanks for all the comments so far. I guess the background is not so bad. What I really found distracting is the reeds that are horizontal. Anyway, your comments are much appreciated. I agree, there is some noise in the wing. I use Photoshop Elements 8 and the noise reduction portion leaves a lot to be desired. As stated in previous posts I'm not too keen on post processing but may consider moving up to the big leagues soon. Can anyone recommend a really good noise reduction program in the mean time?
Neil and Kirk, I like the idea of backing down a little on the shutter to help further blur the background. I think I will try that next time out. Thanks for the tip!

The bg is plenty clean enough to isolate the subject, Well done!

David:
Nice capture of a difficult BIF subject. BG not an issue for me.

Great flight capture of this little green. I don't mind the bg

Lovely flight image, David, and I can't imagine why you thought that the bg is cluttered! It looks fine to me. Regarding your query about noise reduction, the default noise reduction in Elements 8 should be good enough. Just make a layer copy of your image, use Filter - Noise- Reduce Noise on the entire image. Your bird will become soft. Now, add a Layer Mask, press B for brush, make black the foreground colour, and mask the bird to bring back the detail in it. Cheers!

David, I agree with the others, a little more bg blur would be perfect, but I wouldn't consider this bg a big negative at all. The bird stands out well and the bg provides some hint of habitat without drawing attention from the bird.

Ajit,
Thanks for the information. The way I do it now is reduce noise over the entire image and the bird becomes very soft and that's it. Thanks very much for the advice to continue to get back the details. I had no idea. I'm not real good at post processing but learning with help from members.

Nicely done David, no worries at all with that background, it's terrific. OOF enough not to distract, but enough interest to convey the impression of the habitat.

Hi Dave,
I especially enjoy the wing designs. It is not often you get a focused picture like this while on the fly. Can I have more info on how did you do this at f5.6?
thanks,
Larry Roche
Buffalo NY
larry@larryspicures.net