This is a little blue heron I photographed in Florida. What makes this beautiful bird stand out nicely against the background is my use of the burn tool in Photoshop. I darkened the periphery of the image (without creating a new layer) and then, using the dodge tool, I lightened the bird a little bit. This manipulation of contrast and tone made a huge difference. I took this picture in 2007 when I was still using my first serious digital camera, the Canon 1Ds Mark II. To minimize noise (which was a significant issue with this camera), I opted for a low ISO setting of 200. That forced my shutter speed to be much slower than it should have been -- 1/200th of a second. With the 500mm telephoto I was using, the shutter should have been 1/500 or faster to insure a sharp picture. However, because I was using a tripod and a gimbal head, I was able to capture a sharp picture despite the relatively slow shutter. My lens aperture was f/4 due to the muted light.
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