Bad Feather Day! + additions

You're posting some really nice portraits!
Nice detail in the heron, but I'm not sure what is going on in the BG - lots of artifacts and odd pixels.
Maybe this was simply a larger crop than the pixels could handle ? Not too familiar with Canons and their ability to handle high ISO's, but the 5000 ISO may be the culprit too. Not sure why you chose this setting (maybe just a goof, as I regularly do)
Most zoom lenses are not their sharpest at either end of their range - so backing off a bit from the full 400mm to maybe 380 or so may help.
The perspective here is a little uncomfortable - generally, an eye-level view is ideal. Looking up at or down at a subject can produce a very awkward image.
Cheers -

Sandy R

A nice portrait. I'd have two nits: the crown feathers are a bit tight to the top of the frame and there's some noise, especially in the background. You might consider using image stabilization, dropping the shutter speed to 1/320 and bringing the ISO down to 2000 or so. Alternatively, use nose reduction software (I use noise ninja) selectively on the background. There's some odd reflections in the eye, but I don't know what you could have done about that.

A photo that seems to show very tight detail of the heron. For me, it is uncomfortably tight in the frame. At ISO 5000, there is a lot of noise showing in the background and it compromised feather detail as well. At f/6.3 you could have still had 1/640 and been at ISO 1250 which would have produced a MUCH cleaner file.

Sandy, thanks so much for the input. I must sheepishly admit that the shot was taken very soon after I got into the hobby this past summer. I believe those are trees in the background and that is the way it came out. BTW, here is the original shot. I thought the light in the right background was a bit distracting so I edited it out and came up with the result that I posted. Thanks for the tips!! BTW, do you agree that editing out the light on the side of this pic was the right move?

Thanks Jim, yes now that I look at it, I have gone back, re-cropped as much as what I had would allow and used a bit of de-noise in iPhoto on the shot. Your other points are all well taken and I am trying to soak it all up!

Thanks Keith, I appreciate the input. When the shot was taken, I was a total newbie and didn't have a clue. I was shooting in Av mode and certainly could and should have made better choices. I do have a tendency to personally like those tightly cropped shots of bird heads - I just enjoy them!

Nice portrait, Sandy. Good focus on the eye and since you were already at f13 you were unlikely to get the whole beak in sharp focus-it actually adds a little depth to have it the way it is. There's quite a bit of noise in the bg (expected at that iso) you might want to run some noise reduction on the bg.

Thanks Dennis, I love to do those tack sharp eye focus type shots with the beak sometimes a bit out of focus to enhance the focus on the eyes. I have a whole category in my photo collection entitled "eyes," where I gave gone for that effect. I did do a reposting after trying a bit of noise reduction. I have so many shots of this guy that I spent little or no time in PP. I probably should have posted a cleaner, better example, but I just loved this one with the top feathers sticking up.