Heron Up a Tree

[EdV]

Spent the morning down along the Jersey shore. Sun and temps in the low 70s brought out the walkers, runners, bicyclers, surfers and sunbathers. We spent our time looking for ducks and other feathered friends to photograph. I will be posting a few of the shots. C&C is always welcomed. I learn something from every comment.

All images were cropped to 2592 x 1728 and then resized to fit POTN's requirements. Camera is a Rebel XT and lens is 70-300mm IS USM.

This one was Tv 1/1250; Av 5.6; ISO 200 and 300mm.

[EdV]

Based on a comment regarding another photo (Northern Shoveler), I now cropped this photo down to 1728 x 1152 as compared to the original cropping to 2592 x 1728. I am looking for feedback as to how the two compare both in terms of composition and degradation of image.

[canonloader]

When I crop, the image in CS2 opens at 33%, so it will fit on the screen. I set the selection tool to Fixed Aspect ratio of 3:2 then draw the box around what I want in the image. That usually means I want the bird to take up most of the final image. Then I crop, set the image back to 100%, then resize to 790x527 or whatever it comes out to, so it will fit in the forums. Once it's sized, I do the adjustments and sharpening til it looks good.

In both of these pics, the bird just isn't big enough to see detail of it on my screen. Since the subject is the bird, I'd rather see it bigger and loose a little of the fine detail than to not be able to see it much at all. ;)

[EdV]

When I crop, the image in CS2 opens at 33%, so it will fit on the screen. I set the selection tool to Fixed Aspect ratio of 3:2 then draw the box around what I want in the image. That usually means I want the bird to take up most of the final image. Then I crop, set the image back to 100%, then resize to 790x527 or whatever it comes out to, so it will fit in the forums. Once it's sized, I do the adjustments and sharpening til it looks good.

In both of these pics, the bird just isn't big enough to see detail of it on my screen. Since the subject is the bird, I'd rather see it bigger and loose a little of the fine detail than to not be able to see it much at all. ;)

I'm going to get the hang of this if it kills me!;)

I feel like I am caught between not getting enough of a close-up and cropping too far resulting in a degraded image. Now in this photo, I cropped down to 864 x 576 to close in on the heron. The I resized and sharpened a bit. When I have done this in the past, I got comments about the softness and degradation of the image. Somewhere there has got to be a happy medium. I know... buy a bigger lens :D

[canonloader]

See, that's much better. Yes, there is some degradation and you will see some noise in the blue sky, but I'm not that critical about it. If I wanted to smooth it out, I'd run it through NeatImage. Also, your forced to get the file under 100K to attach it to the forum, but I host my own, so no limit, and they usually come out about 300-400K or so, so better IQ. :)

[EdV]

Can anyone help me id this heron. I thought it was a juvenile GBH but the more I look at it (I keep playing with the image), the more I think it may be a Black Crowned Night Heron. I am going by the neck, the yellow legs and the red eyes. What do you think?

[Sp00ks]

Looks like a Night Heron to me. Good capture and I learned a few things about better ways to crop :)

[pttenn]

I've got to try what Canonloader does when he crops. I just draw a line where I want to crop and always lose a lot of IQ. I also like to get up close so I often overcrop. I NEED A BIGGER LENS!
Karen