Egret Action

Spectacular Steve. Two thumbs up.

Steve,

Incredible picture. I like the water dripping.

Steve,
Great Pic . . .
The darker reflection is because in the reflection you are looking up at the Egret and are seeing the shadows of the light on the actual bird. There are also features of the Egret you see on the underside of the bird in the refection you do not see on the actual bird. The water trail drops are also darker because they are reflecting the light differently in the reflection. The reflection in this picture is so perfect that it works almost as well rotating the picture 180 degrees. Thanks for sharing.

Steve: I like this image with the complete reflection. The water drops really add a lot to the image. The exposure looks pretty good. The whites are not blown based on looking at the histogram. There doesn't seem to be a lot of detail in the white plumage however. Was noise reduction applied to the entire image?

Thank you, everyone. I love this image myself. So, I'm glad that you all do too. Mike, thank you for the info on the dark reflection. Very interesting analysis. You have me rotating the image on my computer!
Keith, regarding detail, my usual procedure is to apply Topaz DeNoise 5 to the image. I normally use the very lowest raw format setting. It is smart enough to apply NR differently to different parts of the image: notably highlights, shadows, colors, etc. At the lowest setting there is barely any change. After I saw your comment I went back and compared the raw image to the final processed version looking for smearing of detail. I could see none and the final version has better detail than the raw, unprocessed original. I think that your comment is a good one though. It's been awhile since I examined final processed results with and without NR. I'll start to pay attention to it again.

Really good image Steve. I love the action, the flying water and of course the reflection is top notch.

Exquisite, Steve.

I'm wondering why you don't select the bird, an easy task in CS5 or later, invert the selection, and then apply NR?

Gorgeous reflection photo. The implied action with the frozen water drops is like frosting on the cake.

Thank you, everyone. Jim, in answer to your question about selection for NR: My usual workflow uses Topaz Denoise. That software has various ways of tailoring NR to different parts of the image if necessary. If that doesn't work then I'd likely go to Dfine (Nik Software) and use control points. Finally, if I'm still not happy I could use Photoshop selection (as you mention) and concentrate on a specific region. There was so little noise in this image that a light application of Denoise was all that I considered necessary.

What an absolutely awesome photo. I just LOVE it:)

Wonderful action, it's definitely a keeper Steve.
I've read through the chain, and have nothing to add..
Just a pleasure to view, beautiful work!

Nicely done, Steve. Could use just a hair of CCW rotation. I agree with Mike's assessment of the darker reflection. At a lower angle to the bird this difference would not have been as pronounced.

Wonderful pose and reflection, love the water droplets. Excellent work.

Ray

Great action you captured here Steve!!! The splash ring and reflection are sweet. Excellent composition too.

Ken Archer