American Bitterns

[kevin Hice]

• Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 (Windows)

I shot this Bittern in a slough at Spring Valley OH. Originally was shooting the bird in tall grass with just neck and head exposed which is typically all I ever see with these birds very secretive. I then bumped the bird and he flew to the fallen sycamore. I thought he will not stay in the exposed position. After waiting for him to come back I decided to approach and try and get a back-lit shot. Not really accessible with lots of branches and a steep slope. I then thought he has stayed for at least 20 minutes maybe I can approach from the back side of the swamp. Wading in knee deep water to my surprise he was still in position.I took lots of shots some the light is too hard and got some in a vertical position. Even used some flash as the later shots were in shade. The light was changing quickly. This I think was one of the better shots.

Canon 5D Mark 1V 300 2.8 2x converter 111
shooting mode AV
shutter speed !/2000
Aperture 6.3
ISO 1250
Hand held
Post processing Dpp4 Photoshop patch tool clean up on the bill, remove distracting sun ray,levels, sharpened.

 

[Tim Foltz]

Kevin, Sweet shot one of your best, keep up the good work. Nice HA and BG.

-Tim

 

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Tim I have some others I have had trouble processing and will post those later and see if you can give me some tips.

 

[Jim Keener]

Well, Kevin. You must be the bird whisperer to get this one to pose perfectly between the leaves for you. You did a fine job of capturing your bird. I feel responsible to offer some helpful advice, but cannot think of any. TFS.

 

[kevin Hice]

• Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 (Windows)

Tim this is a vertical shot of the same bird. Which would be a stronger composition vertical or horizontal or just personnel preference? I did very little to this in post ,cropped. I wanted you to see the problems. First this is not my sharpest out of the photos. I used flash with a better beamer. I would say about 80 feet from the subject. The focus point was below the neck on the breast. Was it too far away? It looks no different from photos with out flash. Settings were ettl ,High speed sync plus 1.I did add a half of stop exposure to brighten the head up more.I know it is still under exposed but histogram is halfway in the fifth box.

 

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Jim , I wish I could go back and have a second chance some things I would try and do over. I am sure you have had some of those. I was fortunate that he held as long as he did.

 

[Tim Foltz]

Tim this is a vertical shot of the same bird. Which would be a stronger composition vertical or horizontal or just personnel preference? I did very little to this in post ,cropped. I wanted you to see the problems. First this is not my sharpest out of the photos. I used flash with a better beamer. I would say about 80 feet from the subject. The focus point was below the neck on the breast. Was it too far away? It looks no different from photos with out flash. Settings were ettl ,High speed sync plus 1.I did add a half of stop exposure to brighten the head up more.I know it is still under exposed but histogram is halfway in the fifth box.

Kevin, It is personal preference, vertical draws more attention to the bird and horizontal adds more environment. As far as flash I'm not a fan of it, I'd rather wait and use good old mother nature.
Exposure looks good but I would lighten some of the shadowed areas a bit.

-Tim

 

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Tim ,and what is the best way ? To put bird on its own background? Dodge and Burn?

 

[Tim Foltz]

Thanks Tim ,and what is the best way ? To put bird on its own background? Dodge and Burn?

While in photoshop raw just dodge and burn.

 

[kevin Hice]

• Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 (Windows)

Tim here is the photo lightened up using the dodge tool.

 

[Tim Foltz]

Much better, good job.

 

[Bill Dix]

Amazing to get one of these guys out in the open. To me, the OP looks great. Sharp and well-exposed. I personally like the horizontal with the sycamore branch. A fine image.