Richard Matheny  


Great Egret by Richard Matheny

December 2019 - Great Egret

December 2019 - Richard Matheny

Original

About the Image(s)

Ok folks I am going out on a limb this month with this image. This may be a reach because it is a lot different than my usual images. I have a fondness for images with a lot of negative space around the subject. Especially Birds. I first saw this technique in a Gallery in Key West and it was never able to get it out of my old pea brain that I would like to try it some day. I soon learned that the major part of this technique had to be accomplished in camera of course and with an all white bird as the subject. I’m still learning. When the opportunity comes along I will give it a try.

On the 23rd of November I was photographing with a friend at The Donnelley Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina. We went early enough to catch the sunrise over the marsh and that did not work out to real well, I’ve seen better sunrises from that spot, but the birds were there in good numbers. Another plus was the water was like glass. With no sun and in the shade of large overhanging trees the Great White Egrets looked almost like lightbulbs. I told my shooting companion here is a great chance for some negative space stuff this morning. I switched cameras and lens away form the landscape setup I was using to the Nikon D500 with the 200-500mm lens on my tripod and got as close as I could with out scaring all the birds away. I knew I wanted an under exposed image so I ended up setting my ISO at 640. I just couldn’t go any lower because it was really dark. I ended up shooting a f5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/1000 to get what I thought I could work in post processing. I tried different combinations of settings but those were the ones that seemed to work best. I would liked to have done some more experimenting but those darn birds weren’t hanging around all day.

In post processing I cropped the image to get the 16x9 image I wanted. I then darkened everything I could with the shadow slider and the black slider. I think I decreased the exposure a little . There was some small pieces of something floating on the water I removed with the spot remover and then converted the image to black and white.

I know I broke a lot of PSA rules with removing stuff but I got the image I wanted. I will be interesting to hear what you guys have to say about the image. I know some folks are not fond at all of these types of images and I understand that.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted




 
Richard, count me as a fan of your Egret image. When I first opened the group submissions page, our image jumped out. I really like the bird and its reflection against the large black BG. I might have been tempted to crop more and make the Egret larger in the frame, but I like the way you rendered the proportion of figure to ground. It's great that you had and took the time to get the setting that worked in this dark scene. It also works that the bird's tail feathers are just above the water's surface, making a nicely defined reflection. Nice capture!   Posted: 12/07/2019 19:27:37
Richard Matheny   Richard Matheny
Richard Matheny Richard MathenyThanks Wayne. I actually thought about cropping tighter. I took a look at it but was not happy with losing the over effect that I was looking for concerning using the negative space.
Thanks again Wayne for you comments.
Posted: 12/11/2019 08:49:28
  Posted: 12/11/2019 08:50:04



 
Richard,

I have seen this type of photo and I agree that I like the look. For me, and certainly personal preference, is that some images look better when every other distraction is removed, darkened, lightened, etc. I think that it would look really nice in print. Well done.   Posted: 12/08/2019 11:33:12
Richard Matheny   Richard Matheny
Thanks Mark. I have this printed on Glossy Paper and also have ordered it printed on Glass for a local gallery exhibit. I see more and more images that are following this format with using negative space with their photos. I don't think it will ever replace the standard school concerning Nature photography but it is nice once in a while.   Posted: 12/11/2019 09:00:22



Stephen Levitas   Stephen Levitas
(Group 32)
I adore images with a great deal of black, 50% or more, and shoot a lot of them myself. This is just perfect. Keep on shooting like this.   Posted: 12/11/2019 13:13:23



Larry Treadwell   Larry Treadwell
Working with negative space gives a photographer the opportunity to really focus the viewer's attention on the subject. The stark contrast shown here with a black background and I white subject certainly created a great deal of drama. As Stephen noted this type of image works well with around 50% black. When all the attention is drawn to the subject it needs to be razor sharp and in this case the bird appears a bit soft. Of course since it is white, part of the problem may be that it is a bit overexposed. Since the entire image is black, other than the bird you can bring the exposure down quite a bit and it will still look white. This type of work takes lots of practice. I hope you will stick with it and we will see more of this in the future.   Posted: 12/13/2019 16:50:29



 
An absolutely stunning image! I love the contrast between Black and White and the egret is placed perfectly in the photo. I feel you have done this one justice by really enhancing the bird and removing the background.

When I expanded the photo, I noticed there is a lot of noise on the bird from head to body. This cropped size is very nice and it also may be due to the requirments for posting. The reflection of the body in the water appears sharp and clear, but the head is blurred, although I do see ripples in the water. It can be difficult capturing birds (I know that for sure), especially at dawn or dusk and the higher the ISO, the more noise. However, I feel at ISO 640, you shouldn't have too much, but then again, you cannot take a longer exposure for the fear of the bird moving (flying away).....

I look forward to see more of these Richard. I really like the concept!   Posted: 12/15/2019 09:26:32



Michael Weatherford   Michael Weatherford
It's a beautiful image with the negative space, elegant subject and reflection. But the bird is very grainy, on my monitor at least. IMO, bird images like this need to be tack sharp. It appears you made the most of the situation. A full-frame camera might have handled the dark conditions, with the required higher ISO, better. Good job!   Posted: 12/15/2019 15:44:22