American Bittern (click to view larger)

This is an American Bittern, a heron/egret relative. Its favorite

habitat is thick brown wetland brush and it blends in well. I have

always found it very difficult to get a good shot and they are

comparatively rare in my area. This is a head shot portrait primarily.

I find the blue water background a little distracting as it is full

of branches. (This is f4 600mm 200th sec.) So I see many bird shots

with perfect bokeh. How much of that is software created? What

software ( I know PS can do it and Topaz Lens Effects) is typically

used and like many of the Nik products do any have brushing

capability. I think this would be a better shot with a little more

blur in the blue areas... Thanks.

Best regards, David!

PDE

Hello David, very nice image of the bird, good artist notes as well. I like this because of the position of the bird, a stance we don’t often see in bird images. As far as the blue background, it is not a distraction to me but I am sure if you tone it down somewhat, it may pull the bird out a bit more.

I use PSE6, a dinosaur in today’s technology, what I would do is lasso the blue and just cut the saturation a tad. Good shot none the less.