Thank you for your feedback. In regards to the square crop I tried it on another image and I liked it better - thanks "davefales". To "clonzo"... you mentioned 'grainy'. I shot this at ISO 200, 1/500 and f8 with minor editing of the RAW image other than a little cropping, exposure adjustment for the white areas and sharpening - shot with my Nikon D7200 and 18-300 lens. I have seen what I call 'grainy' at ISO 1600 or greater but am not sure what you are referring to as 'grainy'. Please help me out here... is it time for me to see my opthalmologist to have my 73 y.o. eyes check out? Did you download the image? Thanks for your input!

And GREAT Blue Heron is correct - duh, brain flatus on my part. :-( Thank you! :-)

Is there an ornithologist in the house? This Giant Blue Heron has many feathers in its beak. I have never seen that before and am wondering how this heron may have acquired them. I believe they are carnivores and could a small bird have possibly been its last meal? Or from preening? Or altercation with another bird? Or to look tough? Or some mating ritual? Thank you!
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Giant Blue Heron with feathers in its beak.

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You guys are having some fun with the Dr. J thing. :-) I practiced oral surgery and one of my nurses gave me that nick name (when the REAL Dr. J was playing) and the name kinda stuck. I am a 155 lb, 5'9" 73 y.o. "fake Dr. J" with a vertical jump of minus 3"! My name is Dennis Johnson and many would ask me (if they had''t seen me) if I was the guard who played for the Celtics (unfortunately he died of a heart attack in a pick up basketball game after he retired).

Thank you! I really never appreciated the beauty of these birds until a few days ago when I examined a few of these photographs.... I never got close enough before. God and Nikon did the work - all I did was make a few settings and hit the shutter release. :-)

On this photo, in addition to cropping, I did some minor editing with Mac's Photo as it was shot in RAW. Please view in download. These birds are absolutely magnificent!

Blue Heron

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Hello Mark7829....I believe I said the bird was stunning and the bird was beautiful... nothing to do with my mediocre travel photography. I hope you feel better! :-)

Beautiful bird on Anna Maria Island In SW Florida....

Blue Heron

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My new best friend on Anna Maria Island in SW Florida.....

Blue Heron

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I have a Mac and use Photos for 90% of my editing - and am pleased for the most part. I tried Affinity Photo's 10 day trial offer (it is similar to Photoshop and for Mac only) and really liked it for more detailed/complex editing.... and it's only $50! I had used PSE at times and like Affinity better, especially at $50 with a FREE upgrade coming in several months. When shooting in RAW it is very powerful.

Timing is everything - well, almost!

Affinity.... from what I have read it not that difficult if you have done Photoshop as they are set up similarly. However, for those of us who have not, it will be as difficult and the amount of editing we want to do. There are many excellent tutorials and it has been reported to be as powerful as Photoshop. The will have an upgrade in 6-12 months that will be free! :-) I am extremely impressed so far but don't have a good comparison as I didn't do Photoshop. Try their 10 day free trial? I did and was sold.

Sometimes better to be lucky than good! :-)

This is my first attempt using Affinity Photo (Mac) for post-processing.... purchased for $50 download... I have very minimal experience with Photoshop. Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

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This weekend an Egret posed nicely on a bench on our patio with the intercostal waterway as a background... shot this through a fairly clean window. Thank you Mr/Ms Egret!

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