Great Blue Heron

[marlunn]

Christina, they are all excellent, I cant answer your composition question on them as it is something I struggle with.

I seriously agree about #3 - a great image and very 'japanese' it is a distinct way to go with this type of photography and I think you have a flair for it.

[Suzan J]

Hi Christina: I love all the heron shots, particularly Number 3. Even though he has turned away somewhat, I can still see his eye and the delicate branch really gives it a nice dreamy effect.

[bnnrcn]

Perhaps white is just too white!

+1

[Brownbear]

Thank you Mark, Suzan, Dean, Jane, and Irene for your comments and suggestions.

Irene... Thank you for pointing out the bits of white cloud. The heron in the portrait shots was standing in water which reflected the clouds. In my cropped edits I cloned them out.

Heron Portrait Edits

1. Cropped to 16 x 10 (off the top as per Dave's advice) with the eye sharpened as suggested by Greg



2. Cropped to 10 x 8 with the eye sharpened and some local contrast enhancement added to just the heron, and shadows lifted on the dark blue feather areas. Maybe a little over processed, not sure.



Dave, Shane and Binnur...

First off, I haven't made very many prints of my images to know for sure what a pure white background prints like. I do have an image of a moth hanging on my wall where the white on my computer screen looks quite white but in the print the background fades from a light grey/blue to a more white background but the background in the print is not pure white. The moth is the only image I've ever printed with a white background, so it is something that I need to learn more about. At this point in time I prefer the pure white background.


3. The Heron in flight with the white point lowered to 243 from 255 using the Levels tool and a layer. I kept the white point on the heron at 255. Bringing the white point lower, or lowering the exposure/shadows made the background too grey and brought out wisps of grey clouds in the sky making the background look a little murky. Even with this edit cloned out a few wisps of clouds.

I used the Levels tool to move the white point to 243 from 255, and erased the adjustment off of the heron, using a layer mask in Photoshop CC

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/levels.htm



Thank you to all!

[bnnrcn]

I loved the crop of the second image Christina. It looks great this way. The BG looks better in #3 but the heron looks paler. It looks as if it was PPed the same way as the BG Are you sure you erased the adjustment off of the bird?

[Brownbear]

Hi Binnur,

Thank you. I think that crop works well, and useful for me to keep in mind for future when photographing herons close-up.

Also thanks for letting me know that you prefer the BG in the edit. At this moment I still prefer the pure white but I will revisit the image in a week or two, and look at it with fresh eyes.

For sure I erased the levels adjustment off of the Heron but I forgot that when I first opened the image in Lightroom I also lowered the white point which would be applied to the entire image. Next I opened in Photoshop and applied the levels adjustment to the BG, only. My apologies for this, too much post processing in one morning = confusion. So when I revisit the image I will just open the original in Photoshop and try again.

As always, your feedback is helpful and very much appreciated.

I loved the crop of the second image Christina. It looks great this way. The BG looks better in #3 but the heron looks paler. It looks as if it was PPed the same way as the BG Are you sure you erased the adjustment off of the bird?

[Barbara Ponder]

Beautiful images!

[Chri5]

Number 3 is beautiful, That's my favourite one but 1 &2 are really good as well. I love the details in them. The eyes are razor sharp. Top job.