Little Blue Heron

Gallery: AvianPosted May 4, 20163,565 views7 comments

Due to an incredibly busy spring I haven't posted in a while. Just got back from my son's wedding in Florida and had some opportunities for photography while there. It was exciting to capture several species I have never seen before and will be sharing some some of those images with you. I'm sure they are common birds to some of you. sad

First, this is a juvenile Little Blue Heron in flight as he glided past me. I liked the detail and colors in the image. Applied noise reduction to the bg and added a little canvas on the left. It was a little too tight on that side for me. I de-saturated the bg a bit because it seemed kind of unnatural.

Thanks for looking, comments & suggestions are always appreciated!
Please view large image for best detail.
Canon 70D
Canon 400mm 5.6
1/2500
f/7.1
Aperture Priority
ISO 800
HH
Processed RAW image with Lightroom 5.7, CS5

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on May 4, 2016 at 9:03 PM

Nice details and color in this soft light, Steve. Excellent work with the processing, too. Background colors look just right to match the light on the bird, and adding canvas on the left was a great decision.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Raoul Breaux Jr on May 4, 2016 at 10:40 PM

Very nice capture of this juvenile LBH, Steve. Adding canvas was a good choice. I might have been inclined to even add a bit more, but it works as is. As Wayne mentioned, the tonal value of the background works well with the bird.

I just love the juveniles of this species; I wish they would stay this way; the slate-blue accents look great against the white--and, they are easy to photograph. The adults are very hard to photograph because their tonal value matches most backgrounds so well.

Registered on April 27, 2016, 20 Posts, 142 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on May 4, 2016 at 10:42 PM

Nice image Steve. Good decision as Wayne said adding the canvas. While this is a really nice job in processing, I can still see a tiny bit of artifacts which allows someone to tell it was added (if they were looking for it). I think this can be cleaned up even more just by cloning a bit more over those spots and make it a smoother transition in colors.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on May 4, 2016 at 11:57 PM

Nice shot, Steve. I agree with the others that giving the bird a little more room to fly in to helped the photo. I don't think anyone but a true photoshop nerd like me would see the line from the addition of canvas.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on May 5, 2016 at 12:35 PM

Excellent flight shot, Steve. Nice detail and a great look at the eye. The canvas addition looks pretty good-I probably wouldn't have noticed at all if you hadn't mentioned it.

devil

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on May 8, 2016 at 5:19 AM

A wonderful flight capture of this youngster Steve laugh

Excellent details and pleasing wing position.

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on May 8, 2016 at 4:15 PM

Fine flight image, Steve, even without adding canvas. Interesting to see one in "transitional" plumage.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments