Squacco heron with the 200-400

[Juan Aragonés]

Another image from the past weekend in Doñana testing a 200-400 I had on loan. Strongly croped but still useable for a nice print:)
Comments and critis highly appreciated

Nikon D2X AFS Nikkor 200-400VR + 1,4XTC Handheld from my car ISO 320, 1/250s f6,3 manual exposure VR on

[Raymond Barlow]

beautiful shot Juan., the backlight really adds to this image.

[Desmond Chan]

This is beautiful, Juan !!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Very stunning image Juan.. The lighting is beautiful and the pose and detail are all excellent. The low angle and BG really puts over the top. Thanks for sharing.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Love the light and colours, BG and pose are nice as well but it feels a bit soft to me. Congratualtions Juan!

[James Salywoda]

A beauty Juan great colors and pose I like your comp. Congrats!

[Fabs Forns]

The whole palette of the image is stunning what a great bird!

[Arthur Morris]

Stunning bird, setting, backlight, and colors. The eye and face are razor sharp and that is all that matters for me, all that has mattered for 25 years. And the wing and body feathers are soft and fluffy and that is what you have captured. Way to go. Also, perfect choice of height perspective to show the feet well. If anything, the bird might have been placed a bit back in the frame.

Please tell me how you focused.

[Juan Aragonés]

Thanks a lot for your thoughts Artie. I like the image a lot instead of the fact that, at 100%, there is some visible noise in the body of the bird but I can leave with that, but would prefer to have made it with my 300VR+1,4XTC because: 1) I was testing the 200-400VR and I am not familiar with that lens and 2) the sharpness of the 300 2,8 plus the 1,4X TC is, hands off, far better. This is a crop and I can go (and I will go) for a different composition following your suggestion and placing more room at the right. My initial idea when I processed the image was to go for a landscape composition with room enough at the right because the BG is really nice (don’t ask me why but I decided to post a vertical composition, probably due to the fact that in vertical composition it is possible to show more details). I will try to post a new version tonight.

Regarding the focusing, my camera set-up for AF activation is on the “AF-On” button. I like this setting a lot because it allows me to keep my subject in focus when I need it and it is great for recomposing (I use matrix metering almost 90% of the time because it works really nice on my camera). Here I focused on the eye and locked the AF (releasing the “AF-On” button with the thumb) and recomposed the scene. I usually use AF in C mode. Hope this helps:)
<O:p</O:p
BTW, yesterday I received my copy of the new volume in the “Handbook of the Bird of the Word” series and I saw several of your images in that masterpiece of modern ornithology. Great to see your images printed in what is the best book series ever published about birds ;)


Stunning bird, setting, backlight, and colors. The eye and face are razor sharp and that is all that matters for me, all that has mattered for 25 years. And the wing and body feathers are soft and fluffy and that is what you have captured. Way to go. Also, perfect choice of height perspective to show the feet well. If anything, the bird might have been placed a bit back in the frame.

Please tell me how you focused.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like the backlighting,bg and the eye contact!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Juan, As far as the focus, is it safe to assume that you were working on a tripod?
Thanks also for the kind words about the book.

[Juan Aragonés]

Hi Juan, As far as the focus, is it safe to assume that you were working on a tripod?
Thanks also for the kind words about the book.

Artie, I was handholding from my car. No tripod here :)

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, I was handholding from my car. No tripod here :)

Juan, Were you using a beanbag, resting the lens or your arm on the window frame, or otherwise supporting your lens?

[Juan Aragonés]

Juan, Were you using a beanbag, resting the lens or your arm on the window frame, or otherwise supporting your lens?

Artie I was handholding (VR on) without a bean-bag or without the support of the window frame for support. The heron was in the drivers´s side and I was in the passenger seat and I made the photograph through the driver´s window (a crazy situation BTW :p). The image is a noticeable crop (but big enough as to allow a decent print) and strongly processed because I failed the exposure and got a pretty underxposed image :o
Hope this helps :)

[Arthur Morris]

Thaks Juan. Here is where I was going with all of mmy questions: When using One-Shot or S (in Nikon) or when using rear focus folks need to be aware that they need to be absolutely still after setting the focus when handholding an un-supported telephoto lens. It is virtually impossible for me to do that as I move about and sway all the time. So when handholding my advice for most folks is to stay in AI Servo AF (C for Nikon) so that focus is accurate at the moment of exposure.