Canon 400 5.6L, 1.4 tele,provia 100 RDP III pushed 2 stops

-- Steven Sisti (stevesisti@aol.com), July 19, 2000

Answers

I like it! But then I like animals and foliage in general :+) The only downside is that the lighting is a little on the harsh side....

-- Mark Erickson (maericks@netcom.com), July 20, 2000.

I like this image a lot. It's not your usual full figure egret shot and the image has a fine sense of tension with the center of interest on the bird's eye. The hot spot on the bird's head is a bit distracting. Keep 'em coming.

-- John McCormack (jpmccormac@aol.com), July 20, 2000.

I like the shot but I would think about starting to use a few warming fiters. A friend of mine who is one of the worlds best wildlife photographer, although he does specialize in underwater uses a 81A filter on all his lens then depending on lighting will also use a 81C filter. This has got a blue cast and these filters will kill that. Also start using flash as it will also help with the blue cast and add a catch light in the eye. Set the flash around 1 1/3 to 1 2/3 under exposure. Experiment and see what you like. This is also a tad overexposed by the highlight on the head being blown out.

-- Keith Anderson (andos@pacific.net.au), July 21, 2000.

Hi Steven;

One technical comment: It looks as though you've applied too much unsharp masking to this image. In particular, a halo is clearly visible where the white of the head meets the darker background, which is a classic symptom of oversharpening. Someone less conversant with digital techniques would probably simply describe the result as "un-natural".

Other than that, great shot!

-- Patrick Chase (pchase3@hotmail.com), July 22, 2000.