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Green Heron Portrait
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Green Heron Portrait

by Craig Strand

Gallery: AvianPosted February 3, 2013116 views6 comments
I was fortunate to come across this Green Heron last September while on the auto-tour route at the Ridgefield Nat'l Wildlife Refuge in Washington. The heron was observed for 45 minutes as he worked the edge of a pond (caught 2 frogs,) and secure enough with my presence that he approached to 30 feet (this shot 33ft,) of my car. This original vertical shot (posted below) isn't that great, but I was able to crop it into the horizontal portrait posted. I am pleased with the low POV despite being 6-7 higher shooting from my cars window. I'm also happy with the detail and color using CS5, LR3 and NIK filters.

Original vertical below, Larger version available... "Thanks for viewing!"

canon 7D
canon 600mm F4.L IS USM
F/9.5 +1 1/20 ISO 250
auto window beanbag lens rest

Comments

6 comments
Comment posted by Craig Strand on February 3, 2013 at 5:32 PM
Original image
Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments
Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on February 3, 2013 at 10:10 PM
Nice portrait Craig. I like the decision you made and the crop holds up well.
Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments
Comment posted by Howard Cheek on February 4, 2013 at 9:33 AM
Excellent exposure, details, and colors Caig, great neutral BG to set off this fine profile portrait! :wavey:
Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments
Comment posted by Jeff Lewis on February 4, 2013 at 2:12 PM
Very nice, excellent crop decision and processing. And I love seeing the original and the result, thank you - that will help me start getting an idea what to aspire to in processing, as I don't have a good feel for seeing the potential in my own shots.
Registered on January 29, 2013, 9 Posts, 89 Comments
Comment posted by Verdon on February 4, 2013 at 2:36 PM
large version is outstanding, the crop version works better for me, well done!!! :wavey: :toast: :wavey:
Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments
Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 4, 2013 at 5:09 PM
Excellent portrait, Craig, and I think you were right that it works much better than the original.

:toast:
Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments