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Great Blue Heron
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Great Blue Heron

by Chad Delany

Gallery: AvianPosted August 27, 201071 views5 comments
I took this in May at the Tualatin River NWR. The water was drained but there was still a small pond next to the photo blind. So I'm not too happy about the background for this image but it's sufficiently fuzzy to not be distracting, I think. I did use Topaz Adjust's filter Portrait Smooth.

Nikon D700 camera, Nikon 600mm f/4 AF-S II lens
f/4 aperture, 1/640 sec shutter, ISO 280

Comments

5 comments
Comment posted by Buck Ward on August 27, 2010 at 3:29 PM
The background is too messy for my taste. The backlit glow of the beak is nice, Too bad you cut off the feet.
Registered on December 8, 2003, 96 Posts, 1917 Comments
Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 27, 2010 at 5:26 PM
I like the lighting on the Heron, Chad. The highlights in the bg are a bit distracting, and it's too bad it was so close that the feet got amputated. I might have rotated for a vertical in this case. Were you really at f4 for this shot? The dof seems rather large for that aperture. If this is full frame, I like Rich's suggestion of cropping this down for a portrait. I think it would be much more powerful. :toast:
Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments
Comment posted by Hali Sowle on August 27, 2010 at 10:00 PM
I agree with Dennis, those highlights in the bg are just too distracting. You've got such a great backlight on that beak that it's lost with the image cropped like this, Rich has got it right, make a portrait of this it will really refine the image.
Registered on January 9, 2008, 36 Posts, 582 Comments
Comment posted by Chad Delany on August 28, 2010 at 10:00 AM
Interesting idea about cropping the photo. The original picture is not cropped. Is this how you were suggesting I crop the photo? Thanks for the suggestions.
Registered on January 27, 2010, 17 Posts, 21 Comments
Comment posted by Chad Delany on September 1, 2010 at 1:54 PM
I think I like this crop better. What do you think?
Registered on January 27, 2010, 17 Posts, 21 Comments