Beach stroll + addition

Gallery: AvianPosted December 19, 2013102 views8 comments

I encountered this juvenile Great Blue Heron strolling down a beach in the Gulf of Mexico. I encounter many of these in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, but they are almost always static or flying to their next post. This guy continually strolled up and down the beach and seemed oblivious to the people in the area. I wanted to capture the motion of the bird, so I shot him in stride and left room in front of him to walk. I also wanted to capture the bubbling up of the water. All in all, I was quite pleased with the shot.

Shot with a Canon 70D and Canon 100-400 L lens at 180mm, f5.0, 1/1600, ISO 125

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on December 20, 2013 at 6:16 AM

Sandy ..thats a bold image ..and not often you see a heron by the waves..

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments

Comment posted by Sandy Scott on December 20, 2013 at 7:22 AM

Thanks Balan, as much as I see them, I cannot recall seeing that either until this recent morning when I saw this guy strolling along the surf. They usually hang around "quiet" waters, and they always seem to be just standing there when I spot them.

Registered on December 6, 2013, 85 Posts, 345 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on December 20, 2013 at 8:12 AM

Good job on the exposure. You captured the water nicely and the stride. Some selective sharpening on the head might help you pick up some detail there and the base of the neck, but you've got pretty good details in the rest of the bird. I like the sunken foot. Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Sandy Scott on December 20, 2013 at 8:16 AM

Thanks Sharon. Being a newbie, I have a lot to learn about PP but I am in the process of learning.

Registered on December 6, 2013, 85 Posts, 345 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 20, 2013 at 7:38 PM

Nice stride, Sandy. I agree with Sharon that some sharpening might be in order.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Sandy Scott on December 20, 2013 at 8:11 PM

Thanks Dennis, I didn't even realize the need until you guys so correctly pointed it out. I really need to get busy learning more than the bare basics of PP. Here is an effort with auto settings (don't really know how to use the brushes yet) in PSE11, but might be a bit overkill.

Registered on December 6, 2013, 85 Posts, 345 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on December 21, 2013 at 9:20 AM

Sandy: Your original shot is pretty interesting. I think you received some good feedback. Not sure what you did to the re-post, but it didn't help it. Post Processing is an integral part of taking a good image and tweaking it. I know you'll get the hang of it.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Sandy Scott on December 21, 2013 at 9:53 AM

Thanks Keith - I guess the big secret is to get the necessary detail at the time the shot is taken! I did some PP using Special Effects 4 to sharpen it. I can tell a big difference on my iMac 27, but again, the secret is to get it right at the beginning. I am working with the aforementioned program, PSE11 and iPhoto and little by little I am getting better at the PP thing. I'm in there trying for sure!

Registered on December 6, 2013, 85 Posts, 345 Comments