A Heron's Many Faces

[atpaula]

I prefer #2. The light is very well balanced.
I'm impressed by this lens sharpness.

[Frank Fremerey]

I like the edit and graphics of No2 altough the yellow leaf on the water is a very stark distraction. Too stark? Difficult decision. The bird edit is great because it really makes the bird glow from the inside.

[Mongo]

I prefer #2. The light is very well balanced.
I'm impressed by this lens sharpness.

Thank you for looking Aquinaldo. Mongo also prefers this image because it is left as naturally lit as possible. The lens is a reasonably good performer for the money and its size/weight etc. It has its sweet spots and when you know it well,you will get the best out of it. If Mongo did not own it, and because he shoots at 500mm almost all the time, he would now have thought about the new PF 500mm f5.6 or preferably wait for the PF 600mm f5.6 version

[Mongo]

I like the edit and graphics of No2 altough the yellow leaf on the water is a very stark distraction. Too stark? Difficult decision. The bird edit is great because it really makes the bird glow from the inside.

 Thanks Frank. Mongo too has some concerns about that yellow leaf. During initial PP, he though about removing it because it does cause some distraction. In the end, it seemed a nice natural part of the scene that Mongo  decided instead to leave it in but tone it down very considerably from its original. Maybe, it could do with some more toning down to the point it does not distract. Will have a little play with it to see how it looks.

[Erik Lund]

First one is really striking! Very very nice

[Mongo]

very big thanks Erik