Herons' Palace

[Ruben Alfu]

The official residence of the President in Panama is informally known as the Herons' Palace (Palacio de las Garzas) because a few herons live there, a tradition that started in the 1920's. Here's one of the herons in its palace!

Ruben Alfu : Herons' Palace


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[Cem_Usakligil]

Excellent composition and a great use of a tele lens and restricted DoF. Great!

 

[fahim mohammed]

Ruben, love how you have managed to keep the tones on the body. Lovely comp too.

Best.

 

[Asher Kelman]

The official residence of the President in Panama is informally known as the Herons' Palace (Palacio de las Garzas) because a few herons live there, a tradition that started in the 1920's. Here's one of the herons in its palace!

Ruben Alfu : Herons' Palace


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Ruben,

This is remarkable in it's design and economy. Bravo!

What can you do to give this excellent image siblings?

Asher

 

[Ruben Alfu]

Thanks so much folks! Very glad of your reactions to the photo. I'd like to note that I wanted to portrait the confined condition of the heron, so the title of the photo is rather ironic. I wonder if you perceived this or perhaps the introductory text was misleading?

@ Asher: I have some more shots that could make a series about the confined herons, it's an interesting theme to consider developing further, although I wouldn't go that far as to make it look like a "free the herons" movement!


Regards,

Ruben

 

[Asher Kelman]

The official residence of the President in Panama is informally known as the Herons' Palace (Palacio de las Garzas) because a few herons live there, a tradition that started in the 1920's. Here's one of the herons in its palace!

Ruben Alfu : Herons' Palace


​

Have their heads become squared by the growth behind bars?

 

[Ruben Alfu]

Have their heads become squared by the growth behind bars?

LOL, yeah, you know... it's hip to be square!

 

[Asher Kelman]

LOL, yeah, you know... it's hip to be square!

Ruben,

The question was meant to be serious! Is there a squaring or did you do that in your processing/sharpening and so it's an artifact?

Asher

 

[Ruben Alfu]

Ruben,

The question was meant to be serious! Is there a squaring or did you do that in your processing/sharpening and so it's an artifact?

Asher

Hi Asher, sorry for the delay in my response, I'm in the middle of tons of paperwork. The flat head effect is the combination of camera angle and lighting, that wasn't planned but it came just right for the way I wanted to portrait the animal.

Regards,

Ruben

 

[jake klein]

Absolutely stunning! I can see this on a cover of Natioinal Geographic or a least the main page of an article on the Heron's Palace!

The texture, lighting and shallow DOF are beautiful.

Even if a deep DOF was used the composition would keep this iage ver strong in my eyes.

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Nice one, and to think I almost passed it by!

 

[Ruben Alfu]

Jake, Mike, thanks! Jake, I hope you soon become an editor in chief for NG!

Regards,

Ruben

 

[Paul Abbott]

Nice image, Ruben. There couldn't have been a better shape to break the monotony of those bars, nice one.

 

[Elena Sbrana]

I really like this image. I found the contrast between the repetitive pattern of the bars and the soft curves of the heron quite fascinating. It's not only structural, there's a connection with the color contast opposing the monotony of the black bars with the live bright color of the heron's beak. It's almost as the bird is making a statement by just stepping further as to stand out of the monotonous confined space.
The only suggestion to bring it a tad further would be to eliminate the lighter background on the right side of the picture and use the 'sea of bars' as background covering the whole picture, with only the heron there to break the pattern.
Nice work!

 

[Ruben Alfu]

Nice image, Ruben. There couldn't have been a better shape to break the monotony of those bars, nice one.

Thanks so much my friend, glad you like it!

Ruben

 

[Ruben Alfu]

I really like this image. I found the contrast between the repetitive pattern of the bars and the soft curves of the heron quite fascinating. It's not only structural, there's a connection with the color contast opposing the monotony of the black bars with the live bright color of the heron's beak. It's almost as the bird is making a statement by just stepping further as to stand out of the monotonous confined space.
The only suggestion to bring it a tad further would be to eliminate the lighter background on the right side of the picture and use the 'sea of bars' as background covering the whole picture, with only the heron there to break the pattern.
Nice work!

Elena, welcome to the forum! The bars covering the whole length of the bg is a great idea, I'll try it next time. Thanks very much for commenting!

Ruben