Maria Small
December 2024 - Don't Mess With Me
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About the Image(s)
This young black crowned heron caught my attention while I was on my daily morning walk at a park with a man-made lake not too far from my home. There was a fisherman close by who
was using fresh little pieces of mackerel for his bait and this little young heron was eyeing and hoping for him to drop a few little pieces. At the same time, he was keeping an eye on a white egret and a mature black crowned heron who were doing what he was doing so he didn’t want them to get closer to the fisherman than he was. He so amused me and since I had my camera with me, I shot a few images of him and the other two birds but mostly of him. This was the one I liked the best because, in spite of his small size, he so fiercely protected his territory.
Shot the image with my Sony A7III and my 50-400 mm Tamron lens. Settings were f6.3,
1/500 s, ISO 2500, at 378 mm.
I cropped the original in Adobe Photoshop then using ACR adjusted the exposure a bit, and increased the contrast, vibrance, and texture. While working on this image, it occurred to me that I should have shot the image at a higher speed since this small heron was constantly in
motion. Be that as it may, I was pleased with myself that I caught his facial expression saying “don’t mess with me!”
What else could I have done differently?
6 comments posted
Hi Maria,
You've captured this bird in a nice pose that showcases some action, making it more dynamic and engaging. The bird is well-separated from the background, and the detail is sharp enough, even with some motion blur noticeable due to its movement and the shutter speed you used.
To enhance the image, I suggest cropping a bit tighter to reduce distractions and experimenting with the luminosity by slightly darkening the background.
Posted: 12/16/2024 08:26:52
You've caught this bird showing character. Your crop is good to my eye, with its head on our left looking right. Your shutter speed caught the action well, but I agree that I find it best to use say 1/1,000 for all bird shots - double to treble this for birds in flight - the extra IOS and resultant noise can be dealt with nowadays in PP.
Your final image has good detail and colours - you could do nothing about the flat lighting conditions. Posted: 12/16/2024 09:25:29