Little blue heron

This works for me as posted. Exposure is on the mark; sharpness is excellent. That's an unusual bill color - I don't recall seeing that reddish tone on this species (but its been at least 16 years since I had the opportunity for one).

Rich, this bird has a diseased beak. Some kind of growth on it. Does not bother me as far as the image goes. This just shows that wildlife have health issues too. Cheers.

I was going to say noise, but I'll take your word for it. Actually, that speckling is over most of the wing—it just disappears in the very white areas. Actually, I think this is an excellent image, well composed. Plenty of room for me, but others may disagree.

Ron,
sharp feather detail, excellent exposure control and beautiful flight pose. The background recall me an impressionist painting. Great shot!

Ron, I like the crop you've chosen. The bottom of the bg adds color and an interesting design to the over all image. Whenever you get a mottled white area it will always come off as noise, whether noise is present or not, but to me that doesn't lessen the impact of this image at all. Love the wingspan.

Ron, IMO the pose is great, the exposure perfect and the bird is very sharp. I share the impression that this image is not absolutely "clean" , but I can't tell the reason, anyway this doesn't reduce my admiration for your work!!!
Cheers.
Mauro

Thanks so much for all the comments so far. I always appreciate the thoughts of others and take them to heart to improve my images. Moreover, comments make good starting points for topics such as noise and NR. As you all realize, the image is not meant to be absolutely "clean." None of my images are. There is always "noise" in a digital image, just like there was always grain in a film image. To me, if you clean the image up completely, say using a lot of NR, then it really looks poor, fake, even. "Cleaned" images are pretty easy to spot if you look closely. If NR is used on a bird, the feathers look way too smooth, almost plastic like and water too becomes plastic to my eye if more than just a bit of NR is applied. I much prefer a bit of grain/noise as compared to completely clean images and thus use NR very sparingly. As you may have noticed I do use NR on BGs, but I do not use much. I use Neat Image, and Neat Image NR gives the user a lot of flexibility to control the amount and type of NR applied. I really make the max effort to keep my images looking natural. Anyway. Thanks again for the critical comments as that is what makes me better. Cheers.

Well done image. Light and sharpness are spot on. Thanks for the info on your noise techniques. I'm needing to decide on what to get and that was helpful.

Nicely caught Ron, I like the comp.

A nice flight shot and I really like the painterly effect of the bg. Sharon

What a beauty Ron. Perfect position and there is enough room for him to fly into....no problem. Very sharp eye and he's just starting to turn color in the wings. He will be beautiful in a couple of months well he starts marbleing. Hope he sticks around for you to get him then. Beautiful flight shot Ron.

Ron, I love the pose and DOF, and the bg is wonderful--I would want to leave as much as possible too, and for me the comp works well and the image as a whole is very nice.

As for the speckling. I agree 100% with your take. I share your feeling about not doing NR on the bird, but on the bg only, due to loss of detail. But I also feel, more importantly (and as you've said), that if the speckling is a natural part of the bird's plumage, then that is far more compelling reason to leave it there.

I feel like I am still developing my own bird photography aesthetic for my own work, but I find that most of the people whose work I admire most (you among them) are also among the stronger voices for natural images in every respect.

The comp works for me, Ron. Gorgeous bg.

Greetings, Ron...I like the image as posted. The technicals look good and the heron really stands out from the background. If it were my image I'd crop off some of the bottom as I think the texture of the background is different enough that it detracts from the heron a bit. This is a minor nit, I know.

Comp works for me, too!

Love the comp. The light is fabulous and basically you just nailed it mate.

I've read everyone's thoughts on the noise below, and for me the image is fine as posted.
I agree with your thoughts on the use of NR overall Ron.
Perhaps the slight amount of grain in the wings has been made more visible with the 40% crop?
Dynamic image & your BG works well!

Killer photo Ron!!!

Ken Archer

Love the sharpness and your exposure couldn't be better Ron. Regarding composition for this image - seems to me that the option you've posted here allows the bird to share the spotlight with that exceptionally lovely background at bottom and it works very well for me. Another choice, leaving less room at bottom and more for the bird to fly in to would emphasize the heron more and leave the traditional room for the bird to fly in to. In this case I think either would work very well for different reasons. Dont'cha just love the bokeh from the 500mm! I agree with your approach regarding NR. Very interesting about the bill and I don't think it detracts in the least. Very well done.