Heron

Thanks for adding the details! It is so helpful to learn from others how to get these great images. Keep shooting this wonderful stuff...I love them all!

 

Dick

Love the colors!

The framing of the bird is lovely (though I wish the foreground rocks were in focus -- a very small nit), but it's the reflected color on the water that really makes this an exceptional image. The fact that the color fades out as the eye moves toward the bottom of the frame adds to the dynamism. As a quick experiment, I did a quick black and white rendering of the thing, and it really lost a lot of the magic.

Your story of how you shot this put a smile on my face, too. A few years ago, I came upon a blue heron on the Olympic coast, and used pretty much the same technique to capture an image of it: one shot every 10 feet or so. Unfortunately, my light wasn't nearly as good as this.

Really, really nice work, Tony.

To the folks who recently commented and rated this image - my thanks again. John, thanks for the insights and glad to know that you also used the same technique to capture the Blue Heron. Over recent times I pay particular attention to backgrounds because they can take away, be neutral or add value to the center of interest. One also has to be lucky and ready to seize the moment when it does occur.

Spectacular background and ,magical light, and very good composition,Tony. Your patience has been amply rewarded.

Thanks very much for your input. Always appreciated.

Sharp and beautiful!

beautiful. regards.

So lovely lighting & colours. Regards.

A hand held 300, well done. I particularly appreciate the non busy background and the level detail in the subject feathers. I am of two minds on the tightness of the crop on the right side and the complexity of the borders.

I hear the tune "a drop of golden sun" when I see this. Beautifully composed and rendered. regards, liz

Masood, Chan, Thinh, Craig & Liz - thanks for your generous input. Best regards,

Beautiful image! The colors are fabulous! It makes the bird stand out and almost washes him out too but it works. Nicely done! Your very talented!

Thanks for your kind comment.

PN is disallowing my 7s on this image. I was going to just rate and then not comment, but PN blew the whole idea on that. I like to think that I have some very good heron shots, but I have nothing that touches this one of yours. I'll be back with the 7s later.

Excellent.

your comments and rates are very much appreciated. Best regards,

The contrast between the heron and the golden background is quite remarkable. It's very lovely, and thanks for the description of how you shot this. I'll have to keep that technique in mind. :)

Tony - this is simply breath-taking!! The reflected sunset in the water, the crisp detail in the heron and the autumnal hues that play off one another all equal 7+/7+ this one is in my faovrites file as soon as I finish my comment. PS - I like the rocks in the foreground slightly out of focus - I think that transitions beautifully to the water textures and makes the tack sharp heron stand out even more.

Thanks for your insightful comments and generous ratings. Warm regards,

Hi Tony,

 

Your heron is truly amazing. I love colors and composition. It's great to share with us. Regards, Pascal.

Pascal - thanks for the nice comment and the generous 6/6 rating - much appreciated.

Well Tony, this is a blockbuster of an image. As we used to say in my "hayday"...cool man, very cool. It will go right in to my favorites. The system won't allow me to rate it 7/7 at this time. So I'll put it right here so everyone can see it...7/7. Beautiful work. Cheers from Gary in Salt Lake City

Outstanding image, great composition,colors,sharpness and very nice presentation. One of the best bird shots which I have ever seen.7/7 Best regards Sadegh.

Gary and Sadegh - thanks for the very strong endorsement of this image. Best regards,