The Heron Season has Begun

[VR8]

This is my first Heroan of the season. The weather being poor etc. they have not yet arrived in numbers. This was also the first time I used the 300mm with a 1.7 converter. 500mm ISO 250 f9 1/800. Still working on sharpening in Lightroom but I think I got it right here. (I forget how you remove the thumbnail - hope that does not cause grief).

[NorthernFocus]

Can't see the image, Victor. Clicked on the thumnail but the image that came up was pretty small.

[VR8]

Thank, the upload engine here is a bit hard. Hope I got it right this time

[NorthernFocus]

I've been linking rather than using the upload. Seems to be more straight forward.

I visited you galleries and you have some excellent stuff in there. I appreciate this image more after seeing your style. Great detail on the bird and it is on an interesting perch. This demonstrates its natural camo. The left side of the frame is a bit messy. Will be interested to see more of your images.

[Suzan J]

Very nice image. I agree with Dan, in that, the shot really shows the heron in its natural environment. It makes you feel as if you were lucky enough to unexpectedly find him in the wild without scaring him away. I like the way that the blue-grey log runs diagonally through the frame, but I wonder what it would be like if you cropped slightly from the left side to make it a true diagonal.

[VR8]

I see your viewpoint on the cropping, however, nature is messy. The Herons are usually fairly numerous where we are and as the summer goes on they get used to people. It becomes harder to get them hiding in the background like this.

All that said I have a question about formats - if you were to crip would retain the aspect ratio, that would leave some mess?

[NorthernFocus]

...All that said I have a question about formats - if you were to crip would retain the aspect ratio, that would leave some mess?

Victor, I'd recommend trying an 8x10 lanscape format crop with most/all of the clipping taken off the left side.

While I'm sure we all agree that nature is messy, part of the art of photography is to focus the viewer's attention on the desired subject. As I mentioned previously, I looked through your galleries and everything I saw there was superior to this photo in that regard. Though many of the photos in your gallery are fairly wide and include habitat, they all succeeded in focusing my attention on the primary subject.

The heron in this image is well exposed, has good detail, and is on an interesting perch. The perch and area immediately surrounding the bird highlight it's natural camoflage. But IMO the area to the left adds nothing to enhance the photo and in fact distracts attention.

By the way some of the architectural/urban photography on your site is awesome. You really have a great eye for recognizing opportunities.

[VR8]

I stand corrected, it looks better this way. And its up on my rakmilphotography.wordpress.com blog

[NorthernFocus]

I like it better, Victor. Nice.

[HiImTom]

Not much to say in addition to all the positive said about this already, stunning!

[Brownbear]

Beautiful photo

[VR8]

Thanks for the compliments and the push to 8x10!