Little Heron

[Barbara Ponder]

Thinking this is a juvenile heron but not really sure. He was in the water among and I was on the bridge with a prime lens so was not able to move much so the angles are a little odd. CC welcomed and appreciated.

[IzzieK]

You have such a good eye for composition. I love all of these especially #2 (if you can remove the extra weed in front of it...) #1 and #3 seems to be the same shot...you really got them in the eyes. So beautiful ... and wet!

[Saorsa]

I believe that is a Tri-colored Heron also known as a Louisiana Heron in some places.

[NorthernFocus]

Hi, Barbara. Nice techs on these. Yes you were in a bad spot but made the most of it. The fourth shot is a nice portrait. Optimally could have been shot from a flatter angle but with the constraints you described you did well. The bird's body isn't all that attractive. Interesting to a birder but not for a photographer. So in that fourth shot you might try an 8x10 or even 5x7 portrait crop with all of the crop take off of the right side to turn it into even more of a portrait. That one makes the most of the situation by eliminating the messy feathers and minimizing the criss crossed stuff in the BG. And the bird's eye would end up more or less centered and close to the upper third line. The eye slightly off-center in right side of frame would be optimum IMO. The head/neck are really pretty. Joe could probably tell you what version of heron that is. No doubt some red-blue yellow legged mesomorph somethinorother.

Nice job.

[Barbara Ponder]

Thanks for the identification Brian.

Izzie, I have no idea how to remove it I thought the same thing. I usually shoot 5 shots rapid fire so it would not surprise me if 2 look the same. This little guy was very cooperative but unfortunately I was 3 feet above him on a bridge I even tried squatting down and shooting between the hand rails.

[Barbara Ponder]

Thanks Dan I will give that a try.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[IzzieK]

This is very quickie...need a bit of blending and toning at the legs but it'll do for now...Photoshop CS5 Content Aware...

[Barbara Ponder]

Great job Izzie, THANKS!

[NorthernFocus]

I don't usually do this. But what the heck... Open the lightbox and toggle back and forth between the two images for comparison. The edit is crude and quick on a bad laptop and without a mouse, but hopefully is makes the point.

[Barbara Ponder]

Dan, Thanks for doing that! I like it!

[IzzieK]

Dan! What? No mouse??? I couldn't live without my little almost static but very useful rodent even with the laptop. I gotta have one...and superfast...and of course the tablet... Yes...I like Dan's edit too. It made a whole heck of difference...

[NorthernFocus]

Dan! What? No mouse???...

Laptop has one of those built in touchpads. I actually have a tiny travel mouse or with the touchpad wouldn't even have been able to do what I did.

[IzzieK]

Laptop has one of those built in touchpads. I actually have a tiny travel mouse or with the touchpad wouldn't even have been able to do what I did.

Can't use those touchpad thingie on the laptop...need my rodent. LOL