We took our dog for a walk down to the local duck & goose pond one evening. I took my bridge camera with me, hoping to maybe find a gull ot something that I hadn't photographed yet for the Big Month side challenge. Then this beautiful beast came flying over the pond and landed on the rail of one of the fishing piers. I handed the dog to my wife. He/she sat on that rail for quite a while, and I was able to get within about 10 feet. Then he/she flew off and landed in a tree on the other side of the pond. He/she was gracious enough to stay there while I stood below taking more shots. I wasn't even thinking about the Wildlife challenge while shooting. I didn't even remember there was one until we were walking home.
In Photoshop:
Adjusted Fill Light, Clarity & Vibrance in Camera RAW
Adjusted Levels & Contrast
Nik DFine 2
Resized & sharpened with custom action
selected sky and applied Cooling Filter 80
selected all but the sky, and the breast feathers and USMed at 100/1/1
Statistics
Place: 10 out of 96 Avg (all users): 6.6818 Avg (commenters): 8.0000 Avg (participants): 6.4231 Avg (non-participants): 6.8500 Views since voting: 1061 Views during voting: 234 Votes: 132 Comments: 13 Favorites: 1 (view)
This was another one of my top picks and would loved to have seen it place higher. I love the pp'ing. Like another heron pic on here recently, it has that Audubon quality about it that I think is fantastic. Ribbon - no, but a definite piece that I would love to adorn my wall!
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