I was at Goldstream Park the other day trying to get inspired  ;-). As I came around a corner, I saw a heron on the side of the creek. First I took a quick shot…

but I was not really happy with the composition. I thought the trees were too cut off, the line of reeds lead the eye out of the frame, and overall, the image was kind of weak.

I then backed up and tried a vertical. Now the trees give much more sense of place, the heron is still quite small, but it is not really the central subject of the image.

I spent some time on the image to enhance the impression I had at the time of the image, highlighting some parts of the image, increasing contrast in other areas. I also removed an out of focus branch from the right hand side that was distracting. If you hover your mouse over the image above you can see the before image. 

I have tried to make this image an impression of the morning. There was a quality to the light and a sense of scale that I want to emphasize. I am not sure if this comes across in a small web scale image, but once I do a bit more work, I will try making a large print for an upcoming show.

For those who are interested, here is a screenshot showing the layers and masks I used…