Yellow Crowned Night Heron

[hopdaddy]

Thought I would share a photo,C&C is always welcomed ,thanks for looking

 

[Malone]

Wow! Nice shot!

 

[Tigertail]

Seems slightly under-exposed and I don't like how brown the background is. The bird is a bit centered, it would be nice to have more room to the left of it in the direction it is moving and maybe stay with a 3:2 ratio rather than the more squarish look. Still, a very cool shot.

 

[hopdaddy]

Wow! Nice shot!

Thanks Malone, Glad you like it

Seems slightly under-exposed and I don't like how brown the background is. The bird is a bit centered, it would be nice to have more room to the left of it in the direction it is moving and maybe stay with a 3:2 ratio rather than the more squarish look. Still, a very cool shot.

Thanks for your critique......thought i would break the rules . so far i have +2 and 1- . sometimes doing it different is good, and sometimes "Epic fail" you just don't know what everyone will like that day ,but it's always fun . Thanks Again

 

[Kerbouchard]

Cool shot. I think the exposure is good, the focus is pefect, you have a nice separation between the subject and background, and your processing looks good. All that aside, for me, the busy background turns the photo from a great shot into a shot of a bird with a distracting background.

 

[hopdaddy]

Cool shot. I think the exposure is good, the focus is perfect, you have a nice separation between the subject and background, and your processing looks good. All that aside, for me, the busy background turns the photo from a great shot into a shot of a bird with a distracting background.

The bg also bugged me . Thought about a tighter crop ,to get rid of some bg. What would suggest? replace the bg all together? I was @ f5.6 but i don't have the software to change the f-stop in post yet. so more blur? re-crop ?or replace ? or do you have a suggestion ?

 

[JWellman]

Cool shot. I think the exposure is good, the focus is pefect, you have a nice separation between the subject and background, and your processing looks good. All that aside, for me, the busy background turns the photo from a great shot into a shot of a bird with a distracting background.

I totally agree with Kerbouchard. What an awesome bird shot but I'm also distracted by the background. Such a shame...

Do you mind me asking what equipment and settings you were using?

 

[hopdaddy]

Cool shot. I think the exposure is good, the focus is perfect, you have a nice separation between the subject and background, and your processing looks good. All that aside, for me, the busy background turns the photo from a great shot into a shot of a bird with a distracting background.

I totally agree with Kerbouchard. What an awesome bird shot but I'm also distracted by the background. Such a shame...

Do you mind me asking what equipment and settings you were using?

I'm sorry I didn't add the EXIF (

Nikon D90

0.001 sec (1/750)

f/5.6

240 mm

200

0 EV I was using a 70-300 mm zoom on a D90. The sun was setting , behind me was the beach. behind the bird is a small stream. I photoed him/her for 10 to 20 frames. I even captured the bird eating a crab, If interested .

Camera
Exposure
Aperture
Focal Length
ISO Speed
Exposure Bias

 

[Kerbouchard]

Cool shot. I think the exposure is good, the focus is perfect, you have a nice separation between the subject and background, and your processing looks good. All that aside, for me, the busy background turns the photo from a great shot into a shot of a bird with a distracting background.

The bg also bugged me . Thought about a tighter crop ,to get rid of some bg. What would suggest? replace the bg all together? I was @ f5.6 but i don't have the software to change the f-stop in post yet. so more blur? re-crop ?or replace ? or do you have a suggestion ?

I would probably darken the backround a tad and add a bit of gausian blur with a layer mask. I would show you how I would do it, but you have editing as 'not ok'.

 

[hopdaddy]

Cool shot. I think the exposure is good, the focus is perfect, you have a nice separation between the subject and background, and your processing looks good. All that aside, for me, the busy background turns the photo from a great shot into a shot of a bird with a distracting background.

The bg also bugged me . Thought about a tighter crop ,to get rid of some bg. What would suggest? replace the bg all together? I was @ f5.6 but i don't have the software to change the f-stop in post yet. so more blur? re-crop ?or replace ? or do you have a suggestion ?

I would probably darken the background a tad and add a bit of gausian blur with a layer mask. I would show you how I would do it, but you have editing as 'not ok'.

I will continue to work on the BG,thanks for your advice! I actually didn't realize the "Do not edit my photos " sign was on, I guess it may have happened during the board swap ? IDK. ...I do thank you for your advice!


Here is my attempt, at your suggestion.

 

[Ron Evers]

Being a nature shooter myself, the only thing I would say is that a little more space in front of the bird would be helpful unless of course it is not a crop but asis in 4/3 format. I prefer the original to the edit as the edit looks like a shot of a stuffed bird.

Cripes folks, shooting in the field you are hard pressed to select your background. You get what you can.

 

[hopdaddy]

Being a nature shooter myself, the only thing I would say is that a little more space in front of the bird would be helpful unless of course it is not a crop but asis in 4/3 format. I prefer the original to the edit as the edit looks like a shot of a stuffed bird.

Cripes folks, shooting in the field you are hard pressed to select your background. You get what you can.

Hi Ron , It is a crop,and I normally do leave room to walk in to the frame,just wanted to break the rules on this. Hey sometimes it is good , and sometimes not...lol
Thanks for your thoughts

 

[hopdaddy]

Here is a photo of the same heron eating a crab, ( I think JWellman was interested but not sure )

 

[Ron Evers]

Crab eating shot - excellent, if not a crop.

 

[hopdaddy]

Ron ,What I do well is to get really close to wildlife . what I'm still learning (After 30 years of tiring) Is to photograph said wildlife. Guess I'm just a slow learner .Lol, Heck ,last fall I was holding the cam in my left hand and pushing back a wild turkey with my right to get the shot of a second turkey 2 feet away! talk about Pray and spray..lol..oh and yes I do have the picture..lol