Henriette Brasseur  


Snow Egret Adult and Juveniles by Henriette Brasseur

November 2024 - Snow Egret Adult and Juveniles

November 2024 - Henriette Brasseur

Original

About the Image(s)

From April to early June the Snowy Egrets arrive, find a mate, create a nesting site and lay their eggs. At first the young are fed by their parents but after a time, the parent makes the juvenile chase after her/him to get the food. The juvenile latches their beak onto the parents beak and food is regurgitated from the parent into the juvenile’s mouth. The parent will often go to the edge of a branch thereby encouraging the hungry juveniles to go after the food source. The purpose of this is not only to feed the juvenile but to develop their muscles because the juveniles cannot fly unless their muscles are well developed. There is a high mortality rate among juveniles from eggs falling out of nests, juveniles falling out of nests and predators. Once a juvenile fell out of the nest missing my head from about one foot onto the roadway. I would visit the colony of Snowy Egrets from their arrival to their departure going to the site 2-3 times a week. What an education I got just by observing and the joy it gave me.


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




Trey Foerster   Trey Foerster
Henriette, a wonderfully composed and processed image! Kudos!! Sharp where it needs to be and softened background a powerful combo. Why did you choose to lighten the dark green foliage? My only idea would be to clone in foliage along the right side as the light sky is a distraction.   Posted: 11/23/2024 18:43:09
Henriette Brasseur   Henriette Brasseur
Hi Trey, The original image was too dark so lightened the image over all then selected the birds only and lightened them more. I shall try and see if I can select the background and see if the leaves can be darken just a bit more. As to the sky on the right, it did bother me but I didn't bother cloning the area. I do agree that cloning it would have helped and will work on the image again with your suggestions. Thanks.   Posted: 11/23/2024 20:18:15



Henriette Brasseur   Henriette Brasseur
Trey, As per your suggestions I redid the image cloning the blue sky and darkening the leaves. I duplicated the background layer and then added a new layer to clone on. Cloning the leaves was a bit difficult because there are different levels of blurriness in the image. I cloned mainly from the right side of the image in sections so the cloning wouldn't look so choppy. I then created an image file at the top (Command+Option+Shift+E), went into the RAW window and chose the background icon. I then moved the exposure slider to -30 to darken the leaves. What do you think about the change? Not sure I did a great job at cloning but the change does give a more uniform look overall.   Posted: 11/24/2024 21:49:06
Comment Image



Ian Cambourne   Ian Cambourne
Congratulations on a superb image Henriette. Like you, I'm not bothered by the bit of blue on the right, it tells me this is where the tree ends. But either version is fine. A great wildlife image either way.   Posted: 11/25/2024 03:46:24



Jay Joseph   Jay Joseph
Very impressive photo Henriette. Great sharpness on all the birds which can be tricky when they are in different planes and not stationary. I like version 2 even more.   Posted: 11/28/2024 02:07:06