Disappointing shot

[gilliebg]

I thought the pictures I took of this heron, albeit handheld in a boat, would be better; he was posing, as they do, on an attractive piece of wood and I thought the reeds a good background. However, although I have tried many edits, the shot doesn't 'pop'. I think the wood is over sharpened but that's an easy fix. Looking forward to your opinions - I think

I edited it in CS5 and Nik ColorFX. I used a D7000, settings: 1/1000s, f5.6, ISO 400

[Kris V]

Maybe brighten the bird a little bit, and slightly blur the BG?
Wish I had this kind of opportunity ...
Birds never sit still for me!

[ktuli]

Gillie,

Is this a RAW capture? If so, I'd bump the black slider up a bit (say to 12) and perhaps bump the recovery slider up a little if needed.

See what that does for you.

- Bill

[gilliebg]

Thanks Bill, yes it is a raw capture, and I'll give the sliders a little more work! Gillie

[Geoff F]

For me, Gillie, the bird is well shot but the background is too distracting and reducing the impact of the heron.

I would try a crop of the top and right side to reduce the amount of distraction. Possibly reduce the area between the top of the bird's head and the photo edge by about half.

[Andrew1]

I agree with Geoff. For me the background is what detracts from the bird. The background is too busy and too light. It is competing for my attention. I'm not a PP person but try blurring and dropping the luminance on the grass. I think the bird needs to be separated and if you can't to it physically then try tonally.