wading great blue

Love the detail and colors of the bird here Sue, That -2/3 comp. did a good job handling the whites in the sun. Good choice of DOF. Just one more shot without that shadow on right side. Otherwise, love it.

Fortunately, this a very cooperative great blue and I have 100 shots or so. I was so tickled to finally get some sharp images. I agree the shadow is distracting.

This is nice Sue. A good exposure on this tough subject in what looks like tough light. I would suggest trying to shoot this type of shot as a verticle. Did you get any verticles out of the 100 images you took. The room on top is fine IMO, but more room on the bottom for the bird's feet would have improved the comp quite a bit IMO. Also, did you sharpen the FG and BG along with the bird? The FG and BG look sharpened to me. I always apply a bit of sharpening to my birds, but never the FG and BGs. Just a suggestion.

Nice detail, Sue and I like the pose. The Heron seems rather crowded in the frame. You don't say where you were in the zoom on your lens, but I think backing off quite a bit would help this image.

I have been looking through my photos and found this one without the distracting shadow. As always, thank you for the excellent comments and feedback. Never fail to learn something new.