Snowy Egret w/Fish

Gallery: AvianPosted September 29, 2012287 views9 comments

Canon EOS 7D
EF400mm f/5.6L USM
9/29/2012 – 8:54:58 AM
1/2500 sec
Manual
f/5.6
ISO 400
Handheld
South Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Raw, LR3, CS5, 59% of FF

I would prefer the wings to have been up, but on that image a wing was clipped. At least they're down instead of neither up nor down. I like very much that the bird has a fish. I don't like that the whites are blown at part of the very front edge of the wing.

Comments, opinions and suggestions on anything, but especially on processing, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on September 29, 2012 at 3:04 PM

Very well done Barbara. In your pursuit of perfection please keep posting your progress. This has fantastic interest especially the fish detail.

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on September 29, 2012 at 3:38 PM

A most, at least for me, unusual image. I cannot recall seeing another egret with a fish in flight photo! Well done

I would not be too conderned about the blown out whites along the leading edge of the wing, I think the subject overcomes minor nits. At least for me. Agree with Charlies comment on keep posting. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on September 29, 2012 at 6:53 PM

The Snowy Egrets will "skim fish" and actually catch fish while the egret flies.

Barbara, you can pull those blown whites back in by adding about 5% black to the white with the selective color adjustment tool. You won't get any detail that isn't already there, but you have good detail over a good bit of the bird already, and considering the light, you have done a good job processing. The leading edges of the wings, the shoulders and/or the top of the head will almost always be out of gamut in direct sunlight

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on September 29, 2012 at 7:06 PM

Terrific subject - the fish adds a lot to the image. Nice wing position. Good detail on the fish.

The larger version could be sharpened a bit more IMO.

Since you shot this in raw you can try using the recover slider in Adobe Camera Raw to bring the brightest bits below the 255 maximum. Keep the blown highlights feature turned on in ACR so any of these areas will display as red and then use the Recover slider to reduce that. It can't perform miracles but it can help a lot when there are small areas not far over the max.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on September 30, 2012 at 10:58 AM

Barbara,
Very nice capture, the whites are balanced well IMO. A clipped wing is not a big deal to me when the subject or action is not served by the wing tips. This is one of those captures. Well Done.

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on September 30, 2012 at 1:17 PM

Nice catch.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Haffley on September 30, 2012 at 3:40 PM

Excellent. Don't be so hard on yourself. Perfect shots are rare.

Registered on August 10, 2008, 265 Posts, 317 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on September 30, 2012 at 7:35 PM

I think this is a nice image and personally I like the wings down as well as up - everything else being equal. As others have said, the fish adds a lot and I think the exposure on most of the bird looks good.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on October 1, 2012 at 2:52 PM

Wonderful timing to get this difficult shot. The whites look really good on most of the egret and the wing position and fish in mouth really add to the image for me, excellent shot Barbara, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments