Great Blue Heron

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Captured this image two days ago next to a local river, and a favorite haunt of Great Blue Herons. Almost feeling like Spring here in central NJ, 30˚F / -1˚ C, thought I would give this often abundant avian location a visit. After an hour with no luck, as I was packing up my gear and as often happens, birds started coming in including a resident pair of Mute Swans with a flyby no more than 4 feet directly overhead. I'll post some of those captures soon. C&C welcome.

D700, Nikon 500mm + 1.4 tc, 1/1250, f 32, ISO 200, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley Gimbal head.


Geoffrey

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Geoffrey, I like these high placed subjects, and the silhouette works well showing off the open bill, and wind swept plumage. If its not against your ethics, I would remove the twigs on the LHS, and lower frame.

[keith mitchell]

Hi Geoffrey, the sky b/g is a lovely muted colour which I like a lot, real artistic silhouette ,great job.

Keith.

[Bill Dix]

Very evocative shot from our local spot. Nicely done. Good thing you didn't leave just a few minutes earlier.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Very, very nice, Geoffrey. Love the wing swept feathers/crest and the open bill. I like the stark, leaf-less branches - add to the mood of the image. Well seen and executed.
There appear to be quite a few small dust spots that I would evict.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Pose, perch, and gloomy BG all look excellent. Not crazy about the extra twigs at left, and not sure you needed those particular techs? F/32 sure gave you lots of dust bunnies to contend with...

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Very, very nice, Geoffrey. Love the wing swept feathers/crest and the open bill. I like the stark, leaf-less branches - add to the mood of the image. Well seen and executed.
There appear to be quite a few small dust spots that I would evict.

Thank you, Sidharth. Thanks also for spotting what look to be dust spots, in actuality small bits of feathers shaken loose by the wind. I thought I had evicted all of them, but your keen eye has found more that I will attend to. Originally I was going to leave them in, but they did resemble small dust spots.

Geoffrey

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Pose, perch, and gloomy BG all look excellent. Not crazy about the extra twigs at left, and not sure you needed those particular techs? F/32 sure gave you lots of dust bunnies to contend with...

Thanks, Daniel. I'm assuming you're referring to the small bits of feathers shaken loose I missed, also mentioned by Sidharth.

Geoffrey

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Thanks everyone.



Geoffrey

[Daniel Cadieux]

I dunno Geoffrey, I suppose there may be some bits of feathers there but that sure looks like the same thing I got when I took some slow-shutter speed images stopped way down a few years ago. I was aghast at the amount of dust that was not apparent at wider apertures. Take a photo of the clear sky at f/32 and see what you get.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Thanks everyone.



Geoffrey