Early Morning Heron

[Stu Bowie]

Tony popped into SA a few weeks ago, and he asked me to take him and his daughter Edin up to Pilanesberg National Park the day after he landed, as he said it was the best thing for jetlag. The weather was good, and Tony came away with plenty of images, especially kingfishers. Since you guys have seen kingfishers from me, here is something different from my favourite location. This Grey Heron had just taken off from the water on the far bank, and I managed a few shots in early morning light. The BG is distant winter grasses.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/1600
F/6.3
ISO 640

Exp Comp 0
Hand held

[Arno Ellmer]

Lovely capture , Stuart. I particularly like the good detail on the underwing and the soft golden light on the head. The soft bg adds greatly to the image !

[christopher galeski]

Stuart this is a excellent image,light,sharpness and deatail,pose,it as it all,well done.

[arash_hazeghi]

great wing position and golden light!

[EzhilSuresh]

Stuart, pleasing image. Love the light and image quality.

[Craig Kerr]

Light quality is outstanding Stuart... Excellent detail on the bird with lovely background colors.

[Carmelo Cannova]

Beautiful light and excellent wing position. The BG sets this image very nicely.

Carmelo

[gail bisson]

This image is all about the beautiful light.
Great wing position and slightly incoming flight path adds to an already beautiful image.
Excellent IQ as well.
Gail

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Hey Stu, you've captured sweet golden light on a golden bg to show case this beauty. Flight angle is perfect and the IQ is killer.
If I ever make it there I'll be calling upon you to fix my jetlag too ;)

[Jonathan Ashton]

It's a beauty Stu, love the light and pose, the detail is great - couldn't ask for more!

[Bill Dix]

Gorgeous golden light on bird and background. Flight angle, detail and wing position not too shabby either. Super shot, and nice cure to jetlag.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Excellent all round Stuart. Love the golden light TFS.

[rajojomanik]

Lovely light and wing position, Stuart.

I don't mind seeing Kingfishers since we only get to see the belted ones.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback and comments everyone.

[Sanjeevprakash]

Lovely image Stuart. The early morning Light has made this image a keeper.Nice Shot

[Lorant Voros]

Sweet light and great wing pose. Looks like your 50D still kicks ***. Fantastic shot.

[Stu Bowie]

Sweet light and great wing pose. Looks like your 50D still kicks ***. Fantastic shot.

Thanks Lorant. My 50D is the only camera I have, so I have to make it work. :w3

Thanks for your comment too Sanjeev.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Stuart, pretty much perfect...the angle, the BG, light, details, DOF, IQ....excellent job with AF with that tricky BG.

[Sachin Saraf]

Sweet light and excellent wing position and sharpness...

[Grace Scalzo]

Stuart, This really is a beautiful image. Nice bird, and gorgeous light.

[Markus Jais]

Fantastic flight shot with great wing pose. Light is awesome! Markus

[dankearl]

What you do with a 100-400 just amazes me.
Another killer BG!

[Frank Schauf]

Very nice flight pose and bg colours.

[Tony Whitehead]

Great memory of a great day, Stu. Back home and have survived the first week of work! I think I got this same bird from further down the hide- I must look through my files. Thanks for a arranging a fabulous day - we had a ball and it really sorted out the jet lag. I wish that there was as good a cure when heading back home!