Judith Lesnaw
December 2024 - Eye to Eye
Original
About the Image(s)
In early October this year I spotted a heron across the pond aside our library. I began to photograph it when a lady with two little kids appeared and tossed bread into the pond to attract the large gold fish that swarmed nearby. I was furious as bread is bad for ponds. However, as I fumed the fish leapt to grab the bread, and the heron flew over and caught one of the fish. He who had dined was now dinner.
I photographed the event with a handheld Canon R5 and Canon RF 100-500mm lens. Settings were: f 11; 1/500 sec; ISO 3200.
I imported the image into Lightroom Classic, cropped, and in Topaz AI 3.3 denoised. Back in LRC I adjusted basic settings, clarity, and tone, and removed white spots on the fish head.
5 comments posted
That orange goldfish in the heron's beak is wonderful. If you have enough resolution, or use gigapixel, you might make even a tighter crop of the head to really dramatize the event. If not, I'd darken the body and water around the bird. I tried the latter approach and just reducing the highlights made the bird's neck and the fish look better to me. Then I added a radial gradient and darkened the water and body of the bird. Posted: 12/08/2024 17:14:41
Your Great blue heron is doing a public service removing that non-native goldfish. This is a photograph with a fun story and your timing was perfect in capturing it. I like Mike's suggestions, really makes the bird and fish colors pop. You might consider a vertical crop with less of the bird's back so one can focus on the neck, bill and fish. Just a thought. Really fun image! Posted: 12/14/2024 18:37:20
Great title and the colour of the goldfish against the blue heron work really well and a nice neutral background too. The goldfish looks as if it has resigned its fate. Nicely captured and agree that i think Mike's version of toning down improves the image. Posted: 12/14/2024 23:04:33
I always find GBH such fun to watch, they always seem so intent on their mission. Great capture and detail in the bird and the fish. A good story in this image, the bird certainly got perhaps more than he expected. I have to agree with Mike's suggestion of toning down just a little.
Happy Holidays Posted: 12/15/2024 19:43:48
Happy Holidays Posted: 12/15/2024 19:43:48
Nice work with that long lens, Judith! You have got a good nature story and I am impressed with the sharp detail on the bird. I lke Mike's suggested edits to enhance this image. If you plan to use this image for any kind of Nature competiton be careful not to darken the water so much that it is unrealistic. Other than that, I havce no suggestions. Posted: 12/16/2024 14:55:04