High Key Great Egret

First of all, I have to say that I don't know if I'm doing this correctly. This is my first attempt at this artistic choice in rendering a photograph in this style.

The term high key photography comes from the motion picture industry. Lighting could come from the main or key light. A fill light was added on the shadowed side. A back light was included.

For high key photography, then, the background is exposed until it disappears. Light parts of the main subject blend into the white background. Only the dark portions of the subject contrast. It works quite well with black-and-white photos when the background is white or nearly so.

A professional example of a high key and a low key photograph is here.

I arrived at dawn hoping for the warm "golden hour" sunlight. Unfortunately, as often is the case in early summer, dawn arrived with a heavy marine layer (see Wikipedia "June Gloom."). I was on the footbridge over at Lake Hodges. Many herons and ibis were flying over me inland away from the lake.

The automatic exposure in the camera wants to turn the photo gray. Thus, here is the original photo, already using exposure compensation of +1/3 stop.

Great Egret. Lake Hodges, California. July 4, 2018.

1/1000, f/7.1 +1/3 @400mm, 800 ISO.

Next comes my first attempt at high key. I didn't push the background all the way. So I tried again with the photo at the top of the page.

What do you think?