Some Great Blue Herons

The GBHs that I normally see are so skitish I can never get closer then about 40-50 yards...this guy was as easy going as all get out...i was able to get about 30-40 feet from him...

Comments and Criticism much appreciated.

I can tell the light conditions were not great and I think you did a good job, c&c - I think you could use some noise reduction, etc. I hope you do not mind but I played with the second one as I like it best for some reason. By the way, I have the 100-400 lens also and enjoy it.

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you were fighting some tough lighting conditions here... the backlit ones are especially difficult. the first two look like they've been a bit overprocessed in an effort to counteract the lighting, and the rest seem a tad bit noisy and underexposed. were you using the 100-400L? these don't seem quite as sharp and clear as i'm accustomed to from that lens...

great blues can be hard to approach, but i've found that when they're actively hunting, they tend to concentrate totally on what they're doing, and it's possible to get quite close.

The last shot I particularly like

bglass wrote in post #7457712
I can tell the light conditions were not great and I think you did a good job, c&c - I think you could use some noise reduction, etc. I hope you do not mind but I played with the second one as I like it best for some reason. By the way, I have the 100-400 lens also and enjoy it.

The lighting was pretty rough...I have no problem with anyone playing with my photos...especially if it helps me to learn...for PP I used LR 2.3 (just got the full program) and I used the AUTO Tone and controls on that page...I think I applied some NR but cant remember how much...I tried using the other tools in development but wasnt happy with the results so just decided to post these processed this way and was hoping for C&C...I would love to know how you did what you did to the background in the image you did. If it is better to do via PM that would be fine too...thanks again

squirl033 wrote in post #7457748
you were fighting some tough lighting conditions here... the backlit ones are especially difficult. the first two look like they've been a bit overprocessed in an effort to counteract the lighting, and the rest seem a tad bit noisy and underexposed. were you using the 100-400L? these don't seem quite as sharp and clear as i'm accustomed to from that lens...

great blues can be hard to approach, but i've found that when they're actively hunting, they tend to concentrate totally on what they're doing, and it's possible to get quite close.

as said above the lighting was very tough but i was excited to be able to get so close without scaring the GBH....on top of the lighting it was pretty windy too...I was using the 100-400L and I am still learning so I am sure it was user error and not the lens(or so I hope)...some of these were taken hand held, with a monopod and some with a tripod...i just cant remember which ones were taken which way.

artyman wrote in post #7458455
The last shot I particularly like

Thank you

I have the same lens and think you did a great job considering the circumstances. That edit is just beautiful.

The shots are great, and noise reduction can help a bit. What I do (also with shots taken with the 100-400) is create a background layer, apply noise reduction there and then use a layer mask to remove the NR on the bird itself. Then I occasionally use a much lighter NR on the resulting image if the bird needs a little.

Redrib wrote in post #7459143
I have the same lens and think you did a great job considering the circumstances. That edit is just beautiful.

thanks and yeah I agree bglass did a sensational job on the post processing... i can only dream to get good enough to do that

jgrussell wrote in post #7459669
The shots are great, and noise reduction can help a bit. What I do (also with shots taken with the 100-400) is create a background layer, apply noise reduction there and then use a layer mask to remove the NR on the bird itself. Then I occasionally use a much lighter NR on the resulting image if the bird needs a little.

Thank you and I might be sending you a PM to find out how to do exactly what you are talking about because i have ZERO knowledge on how to create a layer and do the stuff you are talking about....but I am pretty good with things once they are explained to me

Very nice shots. That was a brave bird. We get one of these at our lake once in a while and they will take off at the first sign of a noise from across the lake.

Beautiful bird---The first one almost looks like he's standing on the back of a gator

Morlow wrote in post #7461361
Very nice shots. That was a brave bird. We get one of these at our lake once in a while and they will take off at the first sign of a noise from across the lake.

Outside of this GBH everyone I have ever come across pretty much has never let me get closer than 40-50yards
and thanks for the compliment too

Gatornole wrote in post #7461756
Beautiful bird---The first one almost looks like he's standing on the back of a gator

you are right it sorta does.....fwiw, what I liked about the 1st shot is how the BG colors go from Blue to Browns/Greys sorta like the color from from top to bottom of the GBH

The first and last shots are nice. In the first one I like the backlighting of his beak. The last shot is nice because the GBH is isolated from everything else.

Naturalist wrote in post #7462894
The first and last shots are nice. In the first one I like the backlighting of his beak. The last shot is nice because the GBH is isolated from everything else.

Thanks
I am also not sure but i think when you say last shot I think you are talking about the edit done by bglass which is VERY GOOD