This is an image I took in Costa Rica last November. Each time I look at it, I wonder, “Should I even have kept it?”. In my mind the title is “The storm is coming”. These are Cattle Egrets gathering in their roosting tree as the sun is setting and storm clouds are gathering. In the subtropics it is common, even in the “dry” season for clouds to gather in the late afternoon. Usually it then rains buckets but by the next morning is clear again. Obviously these birds are used to it. Shot from a boat near the Nicuaraguan border with our good friend Chamba. What are your thoughts? Keep or pitch?
Cattle Egret
Country Costa Rica
Location Queso Medio Wetlands, Los Chiles, Costa Rica
Gender Unknown
Age Adult
Activity In or By Water
- Created Timestamp10/26/2023 22:10:58
- CameraCanon EOS R5
- Aperture5
- CreditJim and/or Deb Babbitt
- CaptionCattle Egret
- Copyright2024
- Focal Length100
- Iso250
- Shutter Speed1/4000
Recommend that you keep it! I would even blow it up and have it printed in a large format. I love the action, the lighting, the contrast and the composition…
Kind words. Thank you.
Great photo! A keeper for sure!
Thanks. Yes, the more I look at it, the more I like it. More importantly, my wife has grown fond of it.
I also have trouble deleting images. This one does have great lighting, made more dramatic by the dark clouds in the background. If this was my image, I’d be inclined to crop it (16×9) across the top in order to capture the birds. However, I would recognize that the image and its megapixels might not hold up well to that crop. You could boost the megapixels with some programs but there is a limit to how much that can help.
Thanks for looking and commenting. I do not have a big problem deleting images (I take way too many), but sometimes I will get one that I cannot decide if it is a keeper or not. I have lots of pixels to work with; this image is virtually FF with a Canon R5.
I have a JPEG of this image that is cropped to 16:9 as I display my images on a dedicated TV in our hallway. Unfortunately I lose the effect of the cloud line at the top and a little foreground.
I also reco that it should be kept.
The setting, lighting and moody feel is really nice. I would keep it.