Egret Mating Dance...

[IzzieK]

When I took these shots, I had not learned much about exposing on sunny days...until the comments/help from Barbara Ponder and Christina (Brownbear). So here I have to do a lot of editing. Having struggled with editing on each and every shots here, XPat USA posted something about contrast the other day that made me realized that I should had gone towards under-exposing this dance instead. So it really had been a learning journey for me these last few months I had been submitting some images this year. For the added knowledge, it has been a slow journey to improving my shots. Also thanks to Grahame (Stagecoach), Geoff F, John 2, John (Shadowman), and Binnur and to everyone who had commented and offered help along the way not only in giving me feedback and kind comments but also passed by to give me encouragement and the drive to submit more images no matter if my images are not really up their photographic alley. If I did not mention all your names I am sorry...but you know who you are...I truly appreciate you all...

OK, back to work! Here are the images I had taken of the Mating Dance of the Egret. I hope you enjoy these ones...information taken from researching on Google..

1 . During the breeding season, both males and females grow long lacy, delicate and flowing plumes ("aigrettes") on the back that curl over the tail. These display plumes molt out after fall. When breeding, the legs turn pinkish-yellow at the top. They have non-webbed feet with long toes.




2 Egrets are generally silent; except breeding colonies, loud croaking cuk cuk cuk can be heard.



3 As part of the "courtship dance", the male performs movements that are described as "Stretch,"



4



5 Wing Preen



6. "Snap,"



7.



8 "Twig Shake"



9 Back to square one, only to start all over again. Some females will perform a ritualized "Circle Flight;" and they may chase other females away. But I did not see any in the instance that we were there. The female that joined this male just sits around and did nothing so I have to remove one from the shots I made...



10 And this ends this chapter. Thank you very much for grinning and bearing my atrocious PP of this beautiful bird. I just thought it is interesting to share with you all what I saw...and thank you all for helping me improve my shots for next time...

Love you all...

[Shadowman]

Nice series. Like you, I often find myself on the wrong side of the sun and end up with backlit subjects. Exposing/processing the image for the web is much easier than exposing/processing for a print.

[JohnRostron]

Very nice pics of the Egrets and their plumes Izzie, especially #8. However I do find the background distracting, especially the fuzzy mesh of the cage. I would be at a loss to be able to fix this with anything other than knocking out from the background. Given the detail of the plumes, that would be quite a challenge. Given the circumstances, your PP has been successful.

Since you do not seem to preclude this, I had a go at editing image 8. I duplicated the layer, then used Topaz Remask to cut out the egret and the trees. I then blurred the mesh background and finally merged the layers.




John

[wtlwdwgn]

Very nice shots and PP Izzie!

[Bobobird]

Great series of shots. Shooting into the sun is a real challenge and you have pulled it off very well. Give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.

[Rita]

Very nice images Izzie, and informative narrative. Like John, I found the mesh in the background somewhat odd. The blur he did in the bg looks like a good remedy. Keep it up Izzie you are doing good!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Isabel . If you blur the BGs like John did, I think the images will look better. I agree with the other members that you are doing good

[Geoff F]

I think you can probably get away with toning down the background a little bit more with some of these, Izzie. The other major problem for me is that bit of out of focus branch in the bottom right corners.

Considering the lighting angle and harshness, you have done well to preserve so much fine feather detail.

[ied]

Very beautiful Izzie. I like the backlighting. The whispy
feathers have such a delicate look.
I like # five for the pose and the dof.
What is the exif please.

Irene

.

[IzzieK]

Nice series. Like you, I often find myself on the wrong side of the sun and end up with backlit subjects. Exposing/processing the image for the web is much easier than exposing/processing for a print.

At least I am not alone in admitting this...Thanks John...that is very encouraging that I can make mistakes and be forgiven easily... Thank you for your feedback and comment...

[joebranko]

I think they are very beautiful Izzie! I love your capture of those delicate feathers!

[IzzieK]

John, thanks for the edit...I was looking earlier before I submitted if the background needed more toning down but as usual I got lazy...I was in Photoshop and the same tone down and more blurring I had done in many of my images in the past by selecting the parts that needed blurring with the lasso tool, then clicking on the Filter/Gaussian Blur then adjusting the blur to suit. Then I will go to the Brightness/Contrast in Image Adjustment and tone it down there OR I can go to Nik's software and with Viveza 2 I can also adjust the brightness there. Another method is Perfect Photo Suite where in the Enhance area there are some sliders that also can be used to tone down brightness of the background provided I load separately in its own layer...Then I thought, after 4 days of cloning and using the healing brush and blurring edged and all that goes with editing, I do not want to do another day of editing anymore as I had already got what I wanted with the bird alone and its overexposed areas remembering Geoff's advice on one of my post before about knowing the texture and flow of my tulips shot. If I was able to achieve that, then I thought I can do it with any overexposed images that I have...though in the future now because of Xpat's post on contrast and brightening the other day and his explanation, I decided it will be safer to underexpose because my images are all RAW files...just a matter of laziness this time around...

Thank you for everything I had learned from you in the past and now...I really do appreciate our conversation and encouragement you have given me so far.

Very nice pics of the Egrets and their plumes Izzie, especially #8. However I do find the background distracting, especially the fuzzy mesh of the cage. I would be at a loss to be able to fix this with anything other than knocking out from the background. Given the detail of the plumes, that would be quite a challenge. Given the circumstances, your PP has been successful.

Since you do not seem to preclude this, I had a go at editing image 8. I duplicated the layer, then used Topaz Remask to cut out the egret and the trees. I then blurred the mesh background and finally merged the layers.




John

[IzzieK]

Hi Isabel . If you blur the BGs like John did, I think the images will look better. I agree with the other members that you are doing good

Thank you Steve, Binnur, Rita, and Bobo....for looking and passing by and giving me a much needed feedback. I truly appreciate my learning experience with all of you so far...

Please read my response to John (Rostron)...it was just a manner of laziness after doing a hell of editing and all those things that makes the bird looks nice...

[IzzieK]

Geoff I did not noticed that until I uploaded the images...I have one good one, didn't I? Thank you for being so meticulous. I need patience at times and you pushed me through my ordeals. I will do better next time...promise...

Again thank you for the learning experiences so far. I am really enjoying this part of after-pressing--the-submit-button moments...

I think you can probably get away with toning down the background a little bit more with some of these, Izzie. The other major problem for me is that bit of out of focus branch in the bottom right corners.

Considering the lighting angle and harshness, you have done well to preserve so much fine feather detail.

[IzzieK]

Very beautiful Izzie. I like the backlighting. The whisky
feathers have such a delicate look.
I like # five for the pose and the dof.
What is the exif please.

Irene

.

I think all of them were taken at 1/100 atF16 (sunny 16), ISO 200...I had not checked all of my settings because once I got a good one on my initial image, I stayed right there and clicked my life away...thank you for your feedback and comments.I truly appreciate it very much...

[IzzieK]

I think they are very beautiful Izzie! I love your capture of those delicate feathers!

Sorry Joe, my like and unlike button disappeared again...I am glad you like this series...I truly appreciate your comments and feedback...helps me go on moving on more complicated editing (hope not...) and more nicer images I can find...

[IzzieK]

Great series of shots. Shooting into the sun is a real challenge and you have pulled it off very well. Give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.

I have to come back to your message, Bobo...I am flattered that you find the time to comment on my images. I truly appreciate it very much...I am glad you like my images or was it my "this is my final chapter" that caught your attention and thought "Thank God! I do not have to grin and bear this woman's shots..."

[IzzieK]

I think they are very beautiful Izzie! I love your capture of those delicate feathers!

I got it this morning...I mean the like and unlike button...

[jcuknz]

I think the bird is great but sadly the background is very distracting and even John's which improves but is too bright. Having the background as a separate layer would make it easy to play with it to reduce its attraction ... not sure if simply darkening would work.
I would like to go back to the original file and see if I could stop the loss of detail in the raised feathers, there is nothing there in what you have presented but might be in the original file. My approach would be to make a duplicate layer and darken the top layer to retain feather detail and darken the background [ you might be lucky that you needed the same amount of darkening ] and then erase with a soft brush the bird out of that top layer.

With such a good series of shots it would be worth the effort IMO.

[IzzieK]

Thank you, John...I will try again...I value your input and feedback.

I think the bird is great but sadly the background is very distracting and even John's which improves but is too bright. Having the background as a separate layer would make it easy to play with it to reduce its attraction ... not sure if simply darkening would work.
I would like to go back to the original file and see if I could stop the loss of detail in the raised feathers, there is nothing there in what you have presented but might be in the original file. My approach would be to make a duplicate layer and darken the top layer to retain feather detail and darken the background [ you might be lucky that you needed the same amount of darkening ] and then erase with a soft brush the bird out of that top layer.

With such a good series of shots it would be worth the effort IMO.