Little Blue Heron (two images + my fav frames of 2022)

[Dorian Anderson]

These are two frames I recently captured at Fort de Soto. There were several shots in between, but these struck me as the best of the burst.

In the first, the bird has just plunged its head under water. In the second, the bird is retracting its head after the unsuccessful stab.

I was shirtless and swimming/floating/crawling in the water when I shot these. Def wet my pants waiting for everything to come together.
Air was 40 degrees when I got in!

Here is my gallery of my favorite shots from 2022. You've seen them all before, but I think it's fun to see them all in one place.

https://www.dorianandersonphotography.com/Yearly-Favorites/2022-Favorites/

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS R5
1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 800
Processed identically in LR CC

194822

194823

[Colin Driscoll]

I like the crown in the first and the visible eye in the second. Overall lovely photos with those pastel tones and graded wash background.

[James Babbitt]

Wow! Beautiful shots; the graduated pastels in the BG make your sacrifices in getting the shots worthwhile (easy for me to say). #1 with the clear wall of water will be one I remember.

[Bill Dix]

Great pix from 2022. Nice to see them all again. The Swainson's is miraculous.

[Randy Stout]

Dorian:

Very nice. I like them both, but being able to see the eye adds, so I lean towards #2. Plus, it makes you think about how that one could have occurred, with the huge splash vertically.

Randy

[arash_hazeghi]

speaking of timed just right, very cool dynamic frames. I have a couple of frames at the moment of impact but the water was never soon clean

TFS