Two Birds

[ZenDruid]

A Great Blue Heron and American Crow, photographed along Lake Champlain, New York. The Herons are common around here, there's a small island rookery nearby. I caught this guy taking off from an icy pond. I like the awkward form, reminds me of a Japanese crane. In the next second those legs straightened, the wings came down in a power stroke and he was sailing away.

The crow was shot with a telephoto lens against a grey sky, so the image came out as a black silhouette. It was almost a discard but I started playing with it in photoshop. I cranked up the brightness/contrast function enough to get detail of his feathers. Doing that also turned the brown leaves red, like cherry blossoms, my favorite color. I also painted his eye in red, because I'm the artist.

I like the pose, doesn't happen often with wildlife. Nikon D5200 digital single lens reflex camera, 200mm lens, Photoshop 7. Thanks for looking, comments and critique welcome as always.

 

[Enyaw]

I also painted his eye in red, because I'm the artist.

You tell 'em.

 

[Artyczar]

Beautiful!!!!

 

[Terri]

Turned out great! I admire anyone who can capture these guys (the GBH) taking off/landing - they are at their most interesting stage then, looking awkward with the legs splayed every which way. It's so endearing, because of course in flight they look smooth and perfect and sleek. You had a great perspective, too. Good work!

I like what you did with the crow. Fun stuff!!

 

[ZenDruid]

Turned out great! I admire anyone who can capture these guys (the GBH) taking off/landing - they are at their most interesting stage then, looking awkward with the legs splayed every which way. It's so endearing, because of course in flight they look smooth and perfect and sleek. You had a great perspective, too. Good work!

I like what you did with the crow. Fun stuff!!

Thanks Terri. This was at a local wildlife marsh on the lake. The wildlife is used to people wandering around with cameras, so we're able to get a little closer. We also have bald eagles, and osprey and beavers..

 

[Donna T]

These are both great shots and I love how you enhanced the crow. It would have been a nice image without the red eye but now it gets your attention!

 

[ZenDruid]

These are both great shots and I love how you enhanced the crow. It would have been a nice image without the red eye but now it gets your attention!

Thanks Donna. The crow's eye is normally a dull hazel color. In this photoshop exercise it also turned the eye slightly red as well as the brown leaves. So I just enhanced it. This would have been a bad photo from the point of view of hyper-accurate wildlife photography, so I made it an art project.

 

[Iain]

Tha heron is a sweet shot. And the enhancement is outstanding.

 

[ZenDruid]

Tha heron is a sweet shot. And the enhancement is outstanding.

Thanks Iain, I appreciate that!

 

[ZenDruid]

Thanks to all - Wayne, Arty, Iain, Donna, Terri, Snoball, Sanlynn, Desforges, Chaffee2 - for your likes and comments!

 

[laika]

At first glance, I thought the heron photo was a Chinese ink painting! It's so beautiful in its starkness and simplicity, and you caught the heron at the perfect moment. Stunning!

Anything to do with crows is gonna pull me in. And you are the artist, by golly!

 

[ZenDruid]

At first glance, I thought the heron photo was a Chinese ink painting! It's so beautiful in its starkness and simplicity, and you caught the heron at the perfect moment. Stunning!

Anything to do with crows is gonna pull me in. And you are the artist, by golly!

Thanks Laika, I had the same feeling. My camera was on motor drive and I got several more shots in this sequence, but this was the best. Crows are one of my favorites, we have half a dozen neighborhood crows that we feed daily with kitchen scraps. They're neighborhood watch dogs.