Parasol

1d mk3
500mm lens
Im posting this one of a Little egret I took a few years ago to see if anyone has any other idear's how I might improve on it any how.
The water came out dark as I didnt want to burn out the whites, I was wondering if I could lighting some how,just a tad.

Dale

Thats a corker, I wouldnt change it at all, The black water/background really set the bird off well, If you want to lighten the background you can either do it using curves or the highlight/shadow tool in PS but i would leave it as is-lovely shot

Dave

No nits from me ether, a really nice shot, that i wouldnt change, the dark background makes this work very well.


Mark.G

thats a fabulous image I wouldn t change anything,love the position of the bird and the reflection

Leave as is, and assuming this is FF, I bet it would look great in large format

To be honest Dale, I would just straighten it up a bit using the ruler tool in PS as it is falling to the right slightly. I certainly wouldn't lighten the water - in fact the blacker the better. It's an absolute winner and I wish it was mine because all my egret shots are unadulterated rubbish.
eric

I would just leave it as it is great work.

John

Fantastic image just the way it is ....

I agree with the earlier comments: it's an attractive image with intrinsic interest due to the position of the bird and the reflection and that it would benefit from a little counter clockwise rotation to straighten it up. There appears to be some head room in the whites though, so it could do with brightening to makes the lighter tones closer to white and bringing out the colour in the legs more. Since the legs are yellowish though, this suggests its a Great Egret rather a Little Egret. I don't know whether you will be able to recover any colour from the water - perhaps a bit in the foreground, but the dark areas look very dark and rather noisy.

I too love the black water and wouldn't attempt to change it. My only wish is outwith your control - to see slightly more of the head. That is very minor though in what is a very strong graphical image.

Update - I looked again and the head seems perfectly clear! I think I had lost the black bill against the background. Maybe a larger version would have helped.

Very pictorial Dale. I wouldn't change what you have presented. I like the dark / light contrast very much.
I agree with Ian that a frame showing more of the head and ideally the eye would move this up a notch, if you have one from that session.

Cheers

Austin

Great as is. Wouldn't change a thing Dale.

Looks good to me Dale

I would leave well alone

Nothing to improve IMO stunning image made better with the action you have captured a real stunning shot with real class

Amazing picture and agree that the exposure, blacks and whites are spot on. I do wonder if the picture balance could be improved with less black above the bird, or slightly more below the reflection or alternatively a square crop?? (But this may just be my OCD and quest for symmetry at work). Still an A1 corking image.

It works superbly as it is Dale. A little highlight on a ripple would add to it for me .....but if the water was flat then it ain't going to be there.


Calum

A beautiful image, leave well alone

Another vote to leave it as it is! I love it.

Stunning image and a landside victory for leaving it as is.

Phil.

Yes leave it as posted. Brilliant.