Donald; I love Green Herons, and enjoy shooting and then Riparian Preserve when I'm in Phoenix, so your photo caught my attain right away.

I've never shot with this camera and lens, and have no idea how close you were to the bird; a lower aperture may have resulted in better bokeh and a cleaner background; but it's possible you need to use f/9 to get the Heron completely in focus.   Posted: 02/08/2021 16:59:35

These little guys love to hide in the sticks, don't they. I like how you brought down the shadows on his black head a bit. Nice detail on the feathers and the down on his beak. The only thing I might add to it is to brighten the highlights in his eye with a brush.   Posted: 02/14/2021 10:40:36

Very nice image of the green heron. These herons are quite shy and like to hide in the vegetation around them which makes it very difficult to get a clean background. You have done a wonderful job with that in this photo. Maybe as Peter suggested a lower f stop would have made it even cleaner. Excellent!   Posted: 02/14/2021 14:23:14

These guys can be tough to photograph! They really don't like the limelight. They are cocky and will often take on much more than they can handle. I once saw one try to swallow a small frog for over 1/2 hour and just could not get it down. Didn't stop him from trying though!

This certainly is a typical pose of the Green Heron and great composition. I like it a lot. I might try a little clarity on the image. It looks like there is some "mist" or fog on the image and I sometimes find the clarity slider if use a small amount can improve that.

  Posted: 02/17/2021 13:03:41