Great Blue Heron

Critiques appreciated.

It IS a little dark, but you haven't lost any detail in the bird or the foreground, everythings sharp and the darkness gives it a nice atmosphere of evening. I don't think the photo is hurt by being low key.

Thank you Nicole. I've been experimenting with white/brown (Osprey eg)birds by exposing to hold the highlights and it is good to hear that I am not out there in left field for doing so. I particularly like your Nobel Captive shot where the eye is perfect and the white feathers are rendered to show great detail and the darker feathers also hold their own.

Thank you back, Charles :)

Charles, if you are shooting in RAW you can process the image twice. Once for the highlights and once for the shadows. You can even to it a third time for midtones. Then you can combine them with using masks. I think you can even do it using the eraser tool.

Thanks Martin. I do shoot RAW, and at some point I'll get Photoshop and tackle those post processing tasks. I hesitate because it would take me months and months to learn Photoshop, I could use a better monitor and need to get a printer. Maybe by this time next year!