Great Blue Returns

This pic is much better then the first one I posted a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.pbase.com/rkircher/image/45123594

Shot these this past weekend.
http://www.pbase.com/rkircher/image/44997549
http://www.pbase.com/rkircher/image/44997551
http://www.pbase.com/rkircher/image/44997550

 

Nice. I've found it takes some real effort not to blow out the highlights
around the head with these guys. For a different heron see
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photography/D70/misc/slides/DSC_3824_cr_600x800_usm.html
Yellow-Crowned Night Heron shot stalking the bank for crabs in the early
morning sun.

 

That is very nice. Good light. Esp. like the color of the rock
underfoot. Green reflection on water seems a bit over, but I guess the
light on the trees was strong. Head may be a trifle over exp.

Post only this one (IMO). Try to avoid objects like the stone in the
river behind the subjects head.

Cheers,
Alan

 

Thanks Alan. The sun was almost directly behind me and low in the sky so
there was the orange cast of sunlight that you'd expect in the evening. I
believe that is what caused the strong green reflection. I did boost the
saturation and contrast a bit but I went back to the RAW image and green
reflection is as severe there as well. Also looking at the RAW image I may
be able to correct the head just a bit.

You are correct about the rock. I'll have to pay more attention to that in
the future.

Thanks for the feed back, it's very much appreciated.

 

Excellent.

As for the others: Just one comment, on the 'birds' gallery as a
whole. I notice you seem to be ignoring the rule of thirds. A slight
reframing (or post-cropping) would have improved many of them, this
one is an example:
http://www.pbase.com/rkircher/image/44997549

I presume you know what rule of thirds is, if not, visit here:
http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/tips/thirds.asp

Try and drum it into your consciousness that if you are ever using the
central AF zone, you probably haven't considered the composition
properly.

That same image above definitely needs some cropping. You are even
allowed to change the aspect ratio if you need to!