Direction desired on this GBH in flight

[wmchauncey]

This is an old series that I've played with for years...the bird tends to get lost in the foliage.
In this version, in progress, I've desaturated the yellows and green a little and tried to balance the colors in the bird.



I plan on printing it in triptych form as it measures 13.5 x 48 @ 300 ppi.  Please share comments on spacing, color balance of bird and overall accentuation of bird against the foliage.

[luxborealis]

What a wonderful compilation - well seen and executed. It would work well as a triptych.

You have the right idea about "taming" the background. Slightly desaturating it will help, but also try reducing its exposure. In Lightroom, the Luminance adjustment will help. Combine that with an adjustment brush mask to darken the background (try reduced Highlights as well as reduced exposure). It may be a bit tedious painting it in, but you would be able to treat the rushes and their reflection more specifically, rather than just the green/yellow colour combination.

If you don't mind "changing nature", consider removing (or de-emphasizing) the curving stick and woody foliage (and their reflections) on the left side.

As for the bird, it seems a bit too intensely blue.

Just some options...FWIW.

[wmchauncey]

"changing nature", that, my friend, is one thing that I do not hold sacred.  Getting rid of the brush is something that is so obvious that it never entered my mind.
The bird...will tone it down a bit to.  Thanks for input.     

[Ken Bennett]

Interesting photo. My only comment is that the Great Blue Heron is really mostly gray, not blue. Maybe a cool gray. This one looks very blue on my screen.

[luxborealis]

I put in the comment about changing nature with some reticence as there are trolls out there who might jump all over it – the "you can't crop from the original frame", "you certainly can't change anything in the frame", "you should have done it correctly in the field" crowd). To me, nature changes every day, every hour,every minute so if I "take something out", chances are nature will do the same thing at some point anyway!

[wmchauncey]

the Great Blue Heron is really mostly gray, not blue. Maybe a cool gray. This one looks very blue on my screen

You're correct...for the most part.  The one that inhabit every apartment complex pond in this county (SE MI) tend to fade as the age.
Besides, that cool gray turns invisible in the foliage.  Call it "literary license" for this image. 

there are trolls out there who might jump all over it

 
     You mean the ones that live under the bridge and eat little children?       

[PeterAit]

No great blue heron ever looked like that. With all due respect, it is fakery, pure and simple. Why not make them pink or red or purple?

[Isaac]

... there are trolls out there...

Trolls are always out there, never in our homes. Presumably by definition.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Trolls are always out there, never in our homes. Presumably by definition.

You've never met my mother-in-law. She comes to stay, from time to time.

Jeremy

[Marlyn]

Interesting photo. My only comment is that the Great Blue Heron is really mostly gray, not blue. Maybe a cool gray. This one looks very blue on my screen.

I think it depends on the light, and maybe time of year / plumage ?

I photographed a few recently in texas, and they come out exceedingly BLUE.  Without any real post-processing, and with accurate colour balance (if anything, a bit warm).
Close to sunset, nice clear day, this time of year,  some of them are very very blue it seems,  almost un-naturally so.

Regards

Mark.

[wmchauncey]

No great blue heron ever looked like that. With all due respect, it is fakery, pure and simple. Why not make them pink or red or purple?

I've been trying, without a great deal of success, to determine your motivation for the comment. 
Shooting in Raw forces one to make a determination of image color temperature which, in the heron's case will influence its colors somewhat.
All several hundred of my Great Blue Heron images, shot in SE Michigan, have the same color cast, providing one has a decent eye for color balance.