Out of the Shadows

[Bill Dix]

I almost missed this one. I was weeding out some old files from last February's visit to Venice Rookery and came across a number of images that I had never processed. This Great Blue Heron had suddenly appeared coming toward me in the shadows, and I re-actively fired off a series of 12 frames. Since I was manually set for birds in the sunlight, the first 5 were seriously underexposed; but then in frame #6 he suddenly hit a patch of morning sun, carrying a gift for his mate at the Rookery. This is full width, cropped to pano.

D500, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 800, 1/2500s @ f/8 manual.

[Bob Smith]

A terrific shot Bill--my favourite kind of image and done at it's best, with the main part of the subject fully lit supported by the interplay of light and shadow along the wings. Good job on the reaction---with opportunities like this it's always best to shoot first and think later.

[Glenn Pure]

Excellent reflexes to get this Bill. I like the shaft of light on the bird. In this case, I think it would have been ideal to have the background more evenly dark to really show off that effect. Your rendering of tone and colour here looks excellent as always as does the detail. The fact that the bird is carrying a gift in its bill adds a nice touch too. You are certainly squeezing some lovely shots out of your gear, Bill. Keep them coming.

[Alex Becker]

Really nice. I like the pocket of light here and the detail is nice. The small stick in the mouth is great. Agree with Glenn that in a perfect world an all dark BG would be ideal but this is great regardless. Good look at the eye. TFS

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Bob, Glenn and Alex.