Sharon Prislipsky, APSA, EPSA
July 2026 - Nest Builder
Original
About the Image(s)
Each spring thousands of Cattle Egret nest at Bois D'Arc WMA in SW Arkansas. They are a diffficult subject to capture because, not only are they fast, but the opening in the tree line surrounding the lake is not wide. This means there is little time to grab focus before they disappear into the foliage. My goal is always to get the male returning to the nest with a stick.
Canon R5; Canon 100-500mm lens with 1.4 teleconverter; handheld.
ISO 800; 1/4000 sec; f/10
I denoised using DXO Deep Prime; I cropped and made global adjustments in LR, then Dodge and Burn, and removal of the bright "splotches" in the background trees in PS. The final step was to saturate yellow and orange using the Color Mixer tool in LR.
Normally I do not like to have the horizon line intersect with the subject, but because of how blurred the background is I thought this might work. I am curious to hear what you all think.
14 comments posted
Very nice, Sharon. Yes, the cattle egret with its nesting material is a great subject. I think it would be a less interesting without the background, and I agree that it is blurred enough to work. I wonder if you could desaturate the background a little to keep the focus on the bird even more. Alternatively, I wouldn't even mind cropping out the top dark layer of background. I think it simplifies the background a little, highlighting the bird more. What do you think? Posted: 07/02/2026 22:15:50
Thanks, Tracy. I will consider it and see if I like the effect. Posted: 07/06/2026 16:23:23
Nice work. They are hard targets and fun when nest building in their breeding colors. Responding to the background question, I like it just as it is and don't find it distracting at all. Had the edge of the water cut through the middle of the bird, for example, that would not have worked. Although I have seen a few individual cattle egrets that are tinged with yellow, normally it is just their chest, crown and tail feathers that get the color. I dont' think I would have saturated the yellow on the white feathers of this bird, probably masking out white. The original looks more natural to me. Posted: 07/06/2026 10:23:33
Mike, Surprisingly, I could not see that yellow cast. I read some thing about how our color perception changes as we age so maybe that is why. In any case, I used the Remove Color Cast filter in Color Efex, and chose yellow. NOW I see the difference! Thanks. Posted: 07/06/2026 16:26:18
A trick I learned somewhere along the way is to boost up the vibrance and saturation to make color casts easier to spot. I often forget to do it so this is a good reminder to me as well. Posted: 07/07/2026 21:10:21
I think you captured a great moment in the egrets flight, wings in nice position and the legs trailing down. I always thought cattle egret had bright yellow legs/feet like they had yellow boots on. My recollection (from years ago) when photographing the egrets in FL is that is how I would ID a cattle egret. I think your crop and post processing works really well. The background is blurred enough that it does not cause a distraction to me. I was not aware of the yellow cast that Mike mentioned. I think you did a nice correction in your follow up image. The egret bringing the nesting material to the nest adds to the story. Well done. Posted: 07/13/2026 01:52:39
Pam, thanks for your comments. I believe you are thinking of Snowy Egrets who have the yellow legs. Cattle Egret are a little smaller than Snowy Egrets and have black legs with orange feet. Posted: 07/13/2026 13:19:56
You are absolutely right. It has been a long time since I have photographed any egret except the great white egret which we do get in western WA. Posted: 07/13/2026 19:53:39
I am once again amazed at how proficient you are with a hand-held long and heavy lens. That nester is tack sharp. The diagonal line that begins with the stick and proceeds through the outstretched legs, the triangles shaped by the flapping wings, the repetition of orange in the beak and feet, and the bands of bokeh stand out as excellent compositional elements. I would play with the crop. To my imagination, the dark horizontal band at the top of the image threatens to constrain the bird's upward flight. Try cropping it out, and leaving more negative space on the left. This image has both a strong story, and strong aesthetics. Posted: 07/16/2026 14:27:23
Good point about the dark at the top of the image, Judith. I think I wil do the crop as you suggest. Posted: 07/17/2026 18:09:06
The position of the wings and the head is just perfect. Also, the 1/4000 sec speed captured the primaries in very sharp focus. Removing the slightly yellow hue of the bird with Remove Color Cast filter, to my eye, made the subject pop. You could consider Tracy's idea of desaturating the dark forested area at the top or crop it down. The bank and light green in the background gives the image perspective and location information and I think adds to the scene. This is another wonderful bird image.
Posted: 07/16/2026 20:29:15
Posted: 07/16/2026 20:29:15
Thanks for your feedback, Polly. I agree with all of you who have suggested doing something to mitigate that dark banc at the top. I think it wil definitely improve the image. Posted: 07/17/2026 18:11:47
Sharon, Another beautiful image. I'm not sure of your intent for this image but if it is not Nature competition I see two possible areas for improvement.
I'm not sure if it is my eyes or calibration of the monitor but when I enlarge the image, to me, the eye and bill areas appears to be a little bit soft while the others indicate it is sharp. I also feel that if you lessen the shadow on the inside wing it would help to separate the wing from the background. Posted: 07/18/2026 16:36:43
I'm not sure if it is my eyes or calibration of the monitor but when I enlarge the image, to me, the eye and bill areas appears to be a little bit soft while the others indicate it is sharp. I also feel that if you lessen the shadow on the inside wing it would help to separate the wing from the background. Posted: 07/18/2026 16:36:43
Hi Tom, Thanks for your feedback. I have already removed something in the background so at least this verson will not be eligible for Nature. I will give your suggestion for the wing a try. As for the sharpness of the beak I have gone to the original and really zoomed in. It looks tack sharp to my eye. Maybe the lower resolution file that we use for DD has caused it to look a bit soft to you. Posted: 07/19/2026 13:29:42