Red beard

[dadas115]

I came across this bird while driving down the upper TX gulf coast. It is a reddish egret with its feathers being blown up by the wind. I thought it was an interesting shot. Right off the bat I think it could use some more DOF. In fact I stopped down after I took this shot but the wind didn’t cooperate with me and the feathers weren’t how I liked them. The bird wasn’t very close to me so I had to wade out into a mud flat to get a reasonable shot. Also I think contrast was a bit of a problem due to excessive haze in the air. I am still trying to figure out how to deal with it in post processing without losing too much detail (any suggestions?).

Equipment: Canon EOS 20D w/EF 100-400mm IS lens at 400mm and f/5.6 hand held at 1/60 sec ISO 400.

Thanks,

Greg

[Knight]

Very interesting bird i cant coment on the photo itself because im just learning ,but boy o boy what a bird

[livin4lax09]

Very interesting bird i cant coment on the photo itself because im just learning ,but boy o boy what a bird

Don't worry. We're all learning in one way or another. I've only been shooting for about 6 months now, but the greatest part about this forum is that you can express what you think about the photo even if you don't know that much about photography. YOu can say how you feel about the picture, or if you thing a different composition would be better, etc. Personally, I like the look of this picture, but I think it loses a lot since we can't see the rest of the bird. I have never seen a bird that even closely resembles this, so I'm very interested to see what the rest of the body of the bird looks like.

[LeeIs]

wow. What a bird! It looks almost like a rodent !!

As for the shot, well what can I say, its right on! you captured the bird really well. Although I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of the bottom of the beard (but not necessary).

[dadas115]

Thanks for the comments.

Knight, you don’t have to know anything about photography to say what you like or don’t like. I do however, know exactly how you feel and I appreciate very much your taking the time to make your comment.

For those who would like to see the rest of the bird, here is a full-frame version. I really wish that brick wouldn’t have been there!

Thanks again all for making your comments.

Greg

[OldSchool]

I really like the full frame version. Shows all the his character.
Thanks for posting,
Tim

[jar_e]

Loving the second shot. The first shot for me seems soft in the focus and is lacking the luster of a good shot. The second shot is crisp and great colors, and great use of the rule of thirds!

Good shot,

Jared

[livin4lax09]

I like the second picture a lot more. I believe that if you are going to use the first photo, you will want to include the second, as they serve each other well as a pair.