Blue Heron Under Construction

[TonyKyle]

Took this one Saturday evening using a Canon 7D, 70-300 IS L F4-5.6 with the following exposure:

ISO: 800
Shutter: 1/400
Aperture: 5.6
Zoom: 277mm

He is standing in what was once a pond with a fountain. For the last year or more the apartment complex responsible for the area has been filling it in. I have no idea to what end they mean to take it.

There will be some who say I should have tried to isolate him from the man-made items of his surroundings. My style though is to capture the wildlife as I see them, not as I would wish to see them. This location did not lend itself to repositioning to remove the clutter and my vantage points were limited to a sidewalk around the old pond which lies behind an iron fence.


This Blue Heron is usually present morning and evening but goes elsewhere during the day and at night.

Enjoy,

http://abckyle.com/photos/tennessee/knoxville/Summer%202013/IMG_1153-1.jpg

[Randy Stout]

Tony:

Nice alert pose, framed well, perhaps a bit tight on top, but may have been other 'stuff' up there you didn't want to show.

The style of the photographer is certainly up to them. We have a bias towards minimal hand of man elements, but that doesn't mean alternative visions can't be successful. It is remarkable sometimes how wild animals adapt to man's intrusions.

Wish the light angle was a bit more over your shoulder so he wasn't in the shadow so much.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

The image does tell a story, so I am OK with the hand of man here. Randy points out the light angle and I agree with him and also for the fact that a better light angle would have lit the face. The only element I wish was not there is the pipe near the head as it competes for attention IMO.

[TonyKyle]

Hi Randy and Daniel,

Thank you for the kind comments.

The photo was made late evening in an area with lots of trees at the bottom of a hill. The position chosen was because I did not desire to scare him off. A concern is if I approached more on his right side he would have taken flight. If I had positioned myself for the light to fall over my shoulder I would have been taking pics of his backside. Plus that side is mostly blocked by weeping willow trees, puts the photographer at a higher elevation (starting to walk up the hill) and for me a less desirable location.

The cropping was selected because of all the other construction debris that for me was very distracting.



Tony:

Nice alert pose, framed well, perhaps a bit tight on top, but may have been other 'stuff' up there you didn't want to show.

The style of the photographer is certainly up to them. We have a bias towards minimal hand of man elements, but that doesn't mean alternative visions can't be successful. It is remarkable sometimes how wild animals adapt to man's intrusions.

Wish the light angle was a bit more over your shoulder so he wasn't in the shadow so much.

Cheers

Randy