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Dropping In
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Dropping In

by Jerry Austin

Gallery: AvianPosted April 2, 2014129 views11 comments
Captured this male Great Egret dropping into the nest with some building material. I liked the trailing breeding plumage. Processed using Photoshop CS3, NeatImage and LightZone. Comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 7D
Canon 200-400 f4 L IS
f7.1
1/1250s
ISO 160
Exp Comp -0.67
Focal Length 200mm

Comments

11 comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 2, 2014 at 11:01 PM
Nice catch!
Fine detail, great pose, and clean BG.
Maybe just a bit brighter and a tad more room below the feet?
The blues look a bit over-saturated from here, but maybe just my monitor.
Sweet!

Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on April 2, 2014 at 11:05 PM
I like that you got everything so sharp from end to end. That blue does seem a little electric. :toast:
Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments
Comment posted by Jim Hackley on April 2, 2014 at 11:56 PM
I like the flight pose and stick in mouth. As others have mentioned the bright blue sky kinds of over powers the rest of the image for me and I am not sure how to deal with this without leaving a halo effect. Good job of dealing with the whites as the larger image does not show any blown highlights.
Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments
Comment posted by Hans Overduin on April 3, 2014 at 5:54 AM
Hello Jerry, you 'like' the trail of breeding plumage ? It's great ! I would go through the roof with this :wink: . Wonderful capture ! Cheers, Hans
Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments
Comment posted by John Neukirch on April 3, 2014 at 8:23 AM
A truly whimsical image with those feathers, a cool capture. It does seem a bit crowed into that bottom left corner though. On my monitor also the sky appears a little too blue.
Registered on July 9, 2012, 207 Posts, 1476 Comments
Comment posted by Keith Bauer on April 3, 2014 at 8:50 AM
Hi Jerry:

Wonderful pose for the great egret. I too like the trailing plumage. As noted by a couple of comments, the whites could stand to go brighter. I pulled the larger version. The whitest white was around 200 so you had plenty of headroom. The blue sky (even if it really was that color) is a distraction. Here's a version with whiter whites, and a toned down sky for your thoughts.
Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments
Comment posted by Jerry Austin on April 3, 2014 at 9:04 AM
Keith,

I like what you did. Thanks for taking the time to work on it.
Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments
Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on April 3, 2014 at 3:45 PM
Lovely detail and an interesting action. Sandy has nailed my observations, so I will just say ditto. :smile:
Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments
Comment posted by Rick Cloran on April 3, 2014 at 9:16 PM
I'm with Hans in loving the trialing breeding plumage. I think Keith's report captures all of the improvement suggestions. Super shot.
Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments
Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 3, 2014 at 10:10 PM
A very sweet image, Jerry. Excellent catch. I like the processing approach that Keith showed.

:toast:
Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments
Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 5, 2014 at 1:47 PM
Excellent flight shot Jerry, love the plumes hanging out behind, I think Keith's repost nails it. :toast:
Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments