Egret and the Rubble

This image might break all kinds of compositional rules, but I like it. “Egret confronts the rubble: a study in contrast.” or something of the sort. Somehow the whole thing hangs together for me. The delicate, even elegant, bird; the massive frame of broken concrete; the texture of both concrete and the fragment of rope; even the splash of whitewash on the right…it all coheres to produce an image that has a kind of balance, maybe even elegance, of its own.

The Egret even moved slowly enough to allow me to get Exposure Compensation set for the white of the plumage.

Sony DSC H50 at 465mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/600 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto, with -1 EV exposure compensation.

In Lightroom, a bit of Recovery for the plumage. Added Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel, and Sharpen portrait preset.

From Galveston 2009.