SteveR Loc: Michigan

I think I just missed on this shot. Thoughts?

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

The good parts: you got a fairly decent motion blur theme going for you, and a fairly good reflection theme; the bad parts: the background is less than optimal, and you missed any good contrast in the bird's neck and head to make it pop.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

From what I can see, the wings seem to be in focus while the neck and head are not. A smaller aperture would have taken care of that problem. I had a wider aperture in order to shoot at a faster speed. Next time I'll just up the ISO, the D800 handles that well.

BrettOssman Loc: near Tampa, Florida

Not sure how easy the following would be or how well it would work. Here's what I would try.

Crop the left so the Heron is flying more into the photo. Maybe also put the Heron on the upper or lower thirds line. Like Bob said, try adding some contrast, maybe selective on the Heron only. Now this may be tougher. Select the background, excluding the Heron, and try a little Gaussian blur.

I'll play with it myself, just for grins. :-)

BrettOssman Loc: near Tampa, Florida

OK, what's the best way to download this to my computer? I thought download would give me a Save As type option.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

on a PC....Right Click on image , > save image as

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Brett, I'll give you something more to play with. Here's the original image before I cropped it.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

On my MAC, I click download, >file, > save as, pick location....

Gauss Loc: Earth

I wonder if it's close enough for one of those plugins like FocusMagic or InFocus to help recover this image. From what I've read, those programs work well, but how well depends a lot on the specific image.

Another good thing in the image is the wingtip grazing the water.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I did catch the bird at just the right time. That's the one good thing about it. As you can see from the original image, I didn't have time to zoom out to 300mm, or the shot might have been better. As it was I was panning and shooting shotgun style and this was my best result. I don't have the software you mentioned, but see if PSE will clear it up some.

BrettOssman Loc: near Tampa, Florida

This is real rough, but tried the following:

Cropped tighter and Heron flying more into photo (PSE)
Selected Heron onto another layer (PSE)
Motion Blur on background (PSE)
Levels on Heron only (PSE)
De-blur Heron (Topaz InFocus)
Burn Heron head (PSE)

It was fun to play with anyway :-)

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Hey, I just want to say kudos to you for even getting the bird in the frame! My BIF pics are usually empty frames.

UP-2-IT Loc: RED STICK, LA

:thumbup: I apologize for just the thumb up, phone rings at the darndest times around here.

You got a real good speed reflection on him, I've tried a couple down here but haven't been able to get a decent one.
it's a shame you could not have got him closer before getting your shot of him. the background is the killer on this shot bhut thatcan't be controlled.

Nightski

Yep, OOF. But love the reflection. Good try Steve! You'll get it next time! :-D

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

SteveR,

You have a good start with this image, but I think you are asking for future images of this type, and how you might improve those BIF images. You have a whole thread on PP this image and some have shown marked improvement in composition and exposure.

For the future, you have to know the target of your hunt, the habits and behavior to expect in various situations. Once you have these in mind you can prepare yourself, and the camera for the proposed capture.

Suggestions for future "Blue Heron in Flight" images:

Estimate when the bird takes flight, which direction is he most likely to fly.

Position yourself so you can capture the BIF flying into the scene.

Set the ISO, on the camera, so the shutter speed is fast enough to stop action on the BIF wings, and forward motion (this will allow for motion blur on the background).

Set the Exposure Compensation, in the camera to -.6Ev (this will under expose the bright areas on the bird, and allow for fine tuning in PP).

Set the camera up to capture multiple exposures for as long as the shutter button is depressed.

Preset the focus manually (Auto focus can be used for initial focusing, but needs to be off during exposures).

The lens Aperture needs to be small enough to provide a range of DOF to capture the entire bird in sharp focus during flight (f/11).

Michael G