Great Egret

Gallery: AvianPosted March 29, 2012286 views18 comments

Canon EOS 7D
EF400mm f/5.6L USM
3/28/2012 – 4:36:50 PM
1/5000 sec
Manual
f/6.3
ISO 400
Handheld with arms on posts
Rookery at St. Augustine Alligator Farm
Raw, LR3, CS5, cropped a bit from the top (was not framed properly, see below)

I love the pose and the dark background of this image. But I know that there is not enough room at the bottom, and I tried something here to see if it works at all. Since the background is basically black I put a black frame to see if it would make the lack of room at the bottom palatable at all. I don't know whether the frame accomplishes that or whether the lack of room is still too disconcerting.

Also, there is noise in the shadowed area of the bird.

The non-shadowed whites are not blown, but I was afraid if I made them less bright than this to bring out more detail people would think they looked gray (which I can't really tell very well yet).

Comments, opinions and suggestions regarding any of the above or anything else would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Alan Murphy on March 29, 2012 at 9:48 PM

Very elegant Barbara. Wish for more room at the bottom for the virtaul feet and plumes.

Registered on December 3, 2003, 192 Posts, 739 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on March 29, 2012 at 10:00 PM

I'm not too concerned by the bottom as there is a complete line of vegetation there so, to me, it doesn't appear like the feet are cut off. In a perfect world it would have been nice but it by no means a deal breaker to me. A beautiful bird in full breeding plumage is a sight to behold. You captured it very well. Plumage is gorgeous and love the green lore.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Harris on March 29, 2012 at 10:03 PM

Barbara, I have image envy. I think you composition would be fine even without the frame. The foliage covers the feet and I don't fell the virtual feet are missing. The beauty of the Egret with the dark BG and the detail maintains my focus on the egret. Great job and this is my favorite so far of your images I have seen.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 169 Posts, 741 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on March 29, 2012 at 10:35 PM

Barbara, a very fine image! I go along with the missing feet not a problem comments. The details are very good, I would like to have seen just a touch more detail in the neck area, but understand about not wanting it to go gray. Nice job, thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on March 30, 2012 at 12:31 AM

I like this shot. Interesting pose and very sharp.good job.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 30, 2012 at 3:31 AM

Nice shot! Love the profile angle and the breeding colours. Doesn't feel cut-off to me, perhaps partly because of your border.
Perfect exposure, so the whites have nice detail.
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on March 30, 2012 at 11:20 AM

Wonderful the way the plumes are shown here ! Congrats, cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Geoff Powell on March 30, 2012 at 2:45 PM

Nice breeding colors and plumage.

Registered on March 20, 2012, 21 Posts, 170 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on March 30, 2012 at 4:57 PM

Excellent posture, composition and sharpness. Green color around eye is miracle. TFS.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on March 30, 2012 at 8:09 PM

Barbara good to picky as you are, but this time you are beating yourself up a bit much IMO. This is a great shot. Bottom is fine with me and your exposure is perfect. I see plenty of detail in all the whites and they look white as they should. I see no noise in the shadow area of the bird. One of your best images IMO. Very well done.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on March 30, 2012 at 8:26 PM

You should be quite pleased with this one, Barbara. Very sharp, excellent pose, nice light, good BG.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on March 31, 2012 at 2:37 AM

Neat shot, Barbara. I am finding that it helps to control the noise and sharpening / shadows / highlights adjustments, etc. in the RAW converter before bringing it into Photoshop. It seems to produce better results. The dark background really shows this bird off.

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Kirk Greene on March 31, 2012 at 6:03 AM

Well done. I like the composition, pose, and the green lore! I don't mind the lack of space at the bottom since the tree is below the egret. The black frame doesn't give me the sense of having more room for the "virtual feet" but I don't think you need more room with this composition.

Registered on May 12, 2004, 191 Posts, 1578 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on March 31, 2012 at 9:13 AM

I think this is great, Barbara. The lack of space at the bottom does not really bother me on this image, because my attention is drawn to that beautiful white plumage. I do see the slight amount of noise in the shadows of the egret. Based on you shutter speed, it looks like you could have used a lower ISO setting. When using my 7D, I try to stay at ISO 200 whenever possible to avoid noise. Charlie makes a great point as well. Making shadow/highlight adjustment in ACR seems to be more effective in avoiding noise. This is a very nice image as posted.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on March 31, 2012 at 11:05 AM

Wonderful pose, whites are handled very well. Nice work.

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on March 31, 2012 at 1:07 PM

An excellent portrait indeed- Agree with others about a tad more room on lower right side of the frame, but the exposure is perfect and the dark BG works well with the subject- Very well done, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on April 1, 2012 at 4:16 PM

Very nice Barbara.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 2, 2012 at 12:22 AM

This looks great to me Barbara, the dark bg sets the egret off nicely and I like your comp

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments