GBH Courtship: Intimacy

Gallery: AvianPosted April 6, 20161,889 views5 comments

Another shot of social interactions at a local Great Blue Heron Rookery. My title "Intimacy" is not a label that I have seen for any heron social behavior, but from a human (anthropomorphic) point of view, it seems like an appropriate title. The amount of body contact I see appears to be related to other tactile behaviors such as bill-touching and mutual preening, and is unavoidable while sharing a small nest.

From an esthetic standpoint, a nice thing happened while I was watching this nest. The light was strong and warm, but just as these birds got together, a cloud moved in, producing softer, cooler light, which I think goes well with this image. This image was so appealing to me that I put quite a bit of effort into processing it despite the fact that the nest is so far from shore that I had to make a huge crop (it's 3 MP, just 15% of full frame). I used Topaz clarity to increase "micro-contrast" which produces the illusion of sharpness. Because of the big crop, I also used Topaz DeNoise twice, despite that fact that there is very little noise at ISO 320; first for general noise reduction, and later to address a couple of local problem spots.

Canon 7D Mark II; Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm.
1/1600 sec. @ f/8; ISO 320
Tripod

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 6, 2016 at 9:50 PM

A really nice job on both the photographing and processing, Wayne. Keeping the camera/lens stable enough to keep any kind of detail at large distances like that is no easy feat. Your processing resulted in a completely natural look and I'd never have guessed you had to make a major crop for this one. You caught a really special pose and handled it very well.

Excellent work.

devil

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

Comment posted by Ed Williams on April 7, 2016 at 1:44 AM

This is really nice Wayne. Love the lighting and the detail looks great. They have almost formed a heart shape....

Registered on December 28, 2010, 636 Posts, 3499 Comments

Comment posted by Pete Bengeyfield on April 7, 2016 at 8:53 AM

Well, you certainly pulled it off. This is a great addition to the series.

Registered on December 2, 2003, 1247 Posts, 3439 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on April 7, 2016 at 11:52 AM

Yes, the light worked out well here, Wayne. The larger version shows the pose and details very well. There a fine "clean and sharp" look to this inspite of the crop, which says a lot about your processing.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on April 7, 2016 at 5:00 PM

I like this one a lot Wayne. The soft light worked out well for you and the pose you captured is indeed "intimate". The processing looks good and I never would have guessed it was such a large crop. I just wonder if you could have moved to your right a little and gotten more of their faces in the frame. Maybe not possible. Great work!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments