Back Bay Bird

[Craig R]

I took this on a cloudy day, just after a rain. Please help me with the composition and exposure. It seems flat to me, but not at all sure what I should have done differently. Thanks, Craig

[IMG][/IMG]

Canon EOS XTi
F5.6
1/1600
300MM
ISO 400
Flash Off
No Exp Bias

[Chip]

Pretty egret. Had it just finished shaking itself dry? I like the pose.

Shooting white bird's isn't easy. If you were off on the exposure, it sure wasn't by much. There's a lot of nice detail in the feathers, with just a few areas that are a touch over exposed. I'm not sure what you could've done better, except for possibly spot metering off the brightest spot of the bird (not too easy to do) or maybe turn down the exposure compensation down 1/2 stop or so? The whites look fine to me, though.

Maybe it looks a bit flat because the eyes and feathers aren't that sharp? Did you try a high-pass filter or unsharp mask in post? Doing one of these should bring out some nice sharp details. Be careful not to overdo it, though - to my eye, too much sharpening makes birds look too fake.

And bumping the contrast a bit might help, too?

I really don't think you need to do much to this photo.

My 2 cents.

[Craig R]

Thanks, Chip, for you nice comments and help. I am not proficient in post production yet but I want to learn. I might fiddle in photoshop and see what I can do. Thanks again. /Craig

[I_A_N]

I also find this shot of an egret great.

Here is an example of a little playing around in PS.

Ian

[PrimeTime]

Very nice shot craig. The only thing different i would have done, is after getting this shot, i would have tried to get a better angle (if possible) with a less busy background. (you kind of have a line between the dirt and reeds , running straight through its head. Other than that, it just needs a little PP to bring out some more detail.

I added some saturation to the dirt - feet - yellow on the beak and eyes
I desaturated the reeds a little to put more focus on the bird
Blurred the reeds
darkened the bright feathers some
A little contrast and some sharpening

Great shot, keep up the good work.

[Craig R]

Thanks everyone for looking and offering suggestions. I like the edits! /Craig