BAL Land
Well-known member
Critiques appreciated. South Florida in December 2021. Handheld. Processed in photoshop express. Walk around shot, clearly.
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Tricolored Heron Behavior/Habitat shot
- Thread starter BAL Land
- Start date
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it is a really nice bird - but I think it would show better with not such a close crop - I find it almost overwhelming in the frame.
It isn't sharp - which is a pity - but I like it anyway.
It isn't sharp - which is a pity - but I like it anyway.
I can't tell but you might be able to sharpen the eye just a bit. Also, you might try lowering the exposure as it seems a bit over exposed.
BAL Land
Well-known member
Thanks to both of you! I’ll play around with it. The eye is pretty darn sharp-the downsized images here really hurt.
My apologies -
I believe you are right about the eye. I looked at the body but forgot to look at the eye. And yes you are right -the forum doesn't help in the sharpness department.
I think you were just very unlucky at that moment. I don't know your lens, but I know that with my 200-500 I would hardly dare go down to 1/800 but I wasn't there so I can't judge what the conditions were.
The first thing that struck me was the lack of sharpness. Your s.s. is double your focal length, which is good, but when something is moving it's best to make it a little faster. Personally, I don't shoot anything moving any slower than 1/1600. That's actually what I approach most of my birds with. You can usually deal with the noise with some NR and if it takes off unexpectedly it's usually fast enough to capture it decently. also, the bird is too tight in the frame, it needs more room around it, top and bottom.
The_Wild_Chesapeake
New member
On my calibrated monitor the image is at least a stop too bright. Not sure if that's how you captured it or if that's an artifact of processing. I would say the crop is a bit too tight as well. I had that Sigma Lens on a crop sensor camera at one point and it was always a battle to get enough light. Felt like I needed to be shooting on the surface of the sun to get a decent amount of light. Maybe reduce the saturation of the background a bit. The green vegetation camera left of the bird is the brightest thing in the image and draws attention first.
BAL Land
Well-known member
I had no idea this bird was going to move. I was composing a nice habitat shot when suddenly it jerked forward like this. Thanks for all the feedback!