How about an Egret?

gluwater

I haven't gone out to shoot birds in a long time but I've been trying to organize my files and that means processing old ones so here is another from this years Merritt Island shootout. This was taken at Black Point Drive. Good, Bad, Ugly? What would make this shot better? Give me your best shot.

pathfinder

Nick, this is a fine shot of an egret in flight.

The eye and feather details are sharp. The comp is a close up of a BIF and seems satisfactory to my eye,

The shadow under the wing seems dark, and I might have tried to lighten it slightly with Shadow/Highlight perhaps.

Ric Grupe

Nice, Nick.

Something us northern boys don't get many opportunities at.:cry

Andy

pathfinder wrote:

The shadow under the wing seems dark,

PF, check your calibration? Looks great here.

tlee

I like the way you captured it just gliding through the air. The sharpness of the eye and wing(s) is wonderful.

----T

jwear

all around good shot --I agree with the pack -one thing doing the lighten under the wing you need to be very careful sometimes better left alone and this shot looks good to e also

raptorcaptor

jwear wrote:

all around good shot --

saurora

This looks perfect on my monitor...I wouldn't touch a thing! Nice one!

Harryb

I don't see how you could have done that shot any better Nick. Outstanding.

Osprey Whisperer

Well done Nick...excellent capture of that white bird. I saw one of those this morning in my yard. He didn't want his picture taken..again.

Awais Yaqub

wonderful capture

gluwater

pathfinder wrote:

Nick, this is a fine shot of an egret in flight.

The eye and feather details are sharp. The comp is a close up of a BIF and seems satisfactory to my eye,

The shadow under the wing seems dark, and I might have tried to lighten it slightly with Shadow/Highlight perhaps.

Thanks for the honesty PF. I don't have a calibrated monitor so sometimes I'm not sure if it looks good or not. That should really be next on my list to buy. But it might be a while since I thought my car was a boat and tried to drive it through a foot of water in the big rain the other day. The shop says I need a new engine :cry.

gluwater

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I appreciate it.

Dick on Aruba

Perfect!

Thanks for sharing.

Dick.

pathfinder

Andy wrote:

PF, check your calibration? Looks great here.

Maybe "dark" was too strong a phrase Andy. I can see detail there too, but I thought a slightly lighter toned shadow would please my eye more. (I DO have a calibrated 23" Cinema Display that I calibrate with a Spyder 2Pro.)

As I said, if it were mine, the shadow tones would have been lightened maybe 10% or so - a nit, a quibble, that's what Nick was asking for I thought.

If not, Nik has my apology.

I am sorry about your engine too. That really sucks!!

Nick, you can see my image of the same bird here for comparison - http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/gallery/1194221/6/56743422

gluwater

I knew exactly what you meant Jim and thanks about the car, I should hear from the insurance adjuster tomorrow. So here is version number 2. I liked Pathfinders sky better so I changed it :ps. Also lightened the shadow under the wings slightly. So now what do you think?

Original edit:


Version #2:

pathfinder

Nick, I was not going to respond to your question, in hopes that some of the other posters who disagreed with my original comments would belly up and respond to your question, but I see that has not happened yet.

I think you know my answer. I prefer your second frame, because there is more translucent quality to the shadow with the light shining though the wing feathers.

More important, is which do you prefer?

dbaker1221

fantastic shot

gluwater

Thanks for commenting back PF. I also like the new version better. Not only because of lightening the shadows but I think adding blue to the sky brightened the whole image. It's got more "pop" now. I think I lightened the shadows enough but not so much that it is noticable that I edited it.