An Urban Grey Heron

[JohnC]

This heron visits our pond from time to time,I know when it's around early morning when I the screeching of the gulls -they also dive-bomb it. Tinypic didn't work for me yesterday when I tried to post it,it's ok now. When I looked out of the window yesterday morning after hearing the gulls I saw the heron standing at the side of the pond eyeing up the fish ,they have good eyesight and it must have seen me move away from the window because it then flew up onto the apex of a neighbour's house.This heron looks quite tidy and good colouring, must be doing well taking fish from garden ponds, they can look scruffy at times.

I photograph birds using Av because there are a lot more shutter speeds available than aperture settings - if it's a bright sunny day and the bird is in flight then Tv would be my option.I use centre weighted - on a small bird,spot metering. I also have the camera (Canon 7D) set up with the surrounding AF points to the centre one active giving me 5 AF points.

f6.3 1/1600 sec. ev +1/3 ISO 800.400mm Av.
Posted wrong photo,can't add here will have to add in 'reply'Not as sharp as it could be.probably my editing,a weakness still. Tried lens blur in CS2 and 'Clarity' in LR3. Any suggestions ? The lens cover was against the window pane.

[JohnC]

[Bobobird]

Excellent viewpoint. Makes him look rather majestic too.

[FrankMi]

Tinypic didn't work for me yesterday when I tried to post it,it's ok now.

Posted wrong photo,can't add here will have to add in 'reply'.

Interesting , John. I couldn't post yesterday as well but only some images and not others. Later in the evening the image posted just fine.

You should be able to go back and add/change the text/image to the original posting using 'Edit'.

Lovely shot! are you doing any capture, creative, or output sharpening?

For shooting through windows where I might get reflections or glare, I fashoned a piece of foam into a cylinder the same diameter as the lens to block any reflections from the glass.

[JohnC]

Thanks both- Lol. Must be my eyesight -it looks sharper now-Well, infact I'm due new specs,collected them on Wednesday and I've discovered the right lens isn't focused,the left is ok. Then they made up both pairs of bi-focals the same instead of both readers with one pair for distance and one for the computer so I've had eyestrain a mild headache for 3-4 weeks weeks now and more to come, I'm back wearing the old pair.Ugh.

I'll take a closer look Frank-I moved up and down the page and couldn't see any way of adding a photo in 'edit', you can with a reply post,if you say it's there then it is,so I'll look closer-thanks. I don't have any in-camera sharpening selected (it's there) because a long time ago I read that Canon cameras produce a more sharpened photo than others - I normally just do Clarity in Lightroom 3 I tried 'CS2 smart sharpen. I haven't upgraded CS2 beyond this level because I don't use it apart from cloning and maybe photo text .
Tinypic has these wobbles from time to time so now I just go back later or the next day,I did try other photos to see if it was the photo but they wouldn't upload either.

[FrankMi]

I'll take a closer look Frank-I moved up and down the page and couldn't see any way of adding a photo in 'edit', you can with a reply post,if you say it's there then it is,so I'll look closer-thanks.

Ah, you also have to select Go Advanced to get the Tinypic screen back. Sorry for the confusion!