Some more herons

[Maestro]

I don't mean to spam the forum, but I wanted to post these pics of herons since these are the first ones that are half-way presentable. I haven't had much luck otherwise. At first, I thought the colors on these were blown out, but after extensive post processing, they seem presentable. BTW, is the first set a snowy? And the last pair, is that a blue or tri-color heron?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/Egret1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/Egret2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/Heron2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/Heron1.jpg

[bfjr]

good for you ..... :thumb

the 1st ones are Great Egrets not Snowys (they are smaller, with yellow feet)

The last are Great Blue Herons

[Maestro]

Thanks Ben. These Great Whites have invaded my local lake. They are everywhere but they are very, very nervous. It's hard to get in range of them. The GBH is around but not in great numbers as far as I can tell.

[ShepsMom]

Good shots Maestro! The 1st is the White Egret, no? The second looks like GBH. You better get more shots, who knows how long they gonna stay at your lake. :D

[Maestro]

Thanks Marina.

[Shasoc]

These look good Maestro. Very nice color saturation and pleasing composition.

[Maestro]

Thanks Shasoc. I really had to play with the curves, levels, hues and saturation along with selective color to get the colors more like what I remembered them being. I unfortunately had blown some of the colors in the original, but thank goodness for RAW. :D

[Harryb]

Good captures Maestro, especially the GBHs. The egrets lost some feather detail when you blew the highlights but you recovered pretty well in your post work.

[Maestro]

Good captures Maestro, especially the GBHs. The egrets lost some feather detail when you blew the highlights but you recovered pretty well in your post work.

You're exactly right. White birds are the death of me. I am doing better with my exposing for black birds, but white birds...still learning.

[Harryb]

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26500

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1958634

[Maestro]

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26500

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1958634

Thnaks. I had actually read that one thread on top before. I guess my problem is having enough time to properly compose the shot. These snowies can be quite skittish.

[Harryb]

Thnaks. I had actually read that one thread on top before. I guess my problem is having enough time to properly compose the shot. These snowies can be quite skittish.

It takes some experience to get it down. The trick is to view the scene like your camera would. If you;re using matrix metering the camera would "read" the grass as being neutral gray (128 on your histogram). This will blow out the whites of the egrets unless you make an EV adjustment. I would say that you would have needed an adjustment of -.7 or -1.0 to hold the highlights on those shot.

The best thing to do is to take a shot before you get into shooting range and then do a quick review of your histogram and "blinkies". Then make the necessary adjustments before you start to go for keepers.