Snow on the Beach...

[David Roach]

Early morning on Ft Myers beach and I spotted this beauty with wavy reflection. I got low and lost the reflrction to a few white tops on the gentle ripples. So, I raised back up just enough to get the translucent wavy reflection. 1DMKIIN 400DO ISO 200 F14@1/400

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice light and pose but it needs some CW rotation and a lower angle would have helped int this situation, too.

[David Roach]

Thanks Axel! When I lowered to level with the bird, the reflection was lost to just white tops on the waves (no form) alot like you see toward the rear of the bird here. I really liked the wavy reflection, so I raised till it was recognizable as the bird (though wavy). Are you saying I could have been lower and still gotten the full reflection?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks Axel! When I lowered to level with the bird, the reflection was lost to just white tops on the waves (no form) alot like you see toward the rear of the bird here. I really liked the wavy reflection, so I raised till it was recognizable as the bird (though wavy). Are you saying I could have been lower and still gotten the full reflection?

Well, I was not there and am a bit hesitant to claim things I can't prove but my guess is that you would have been able to get the reflection with the camera vertically.

[David Roach]

I see what you meant.It wasn't the length of the reflection it was the form. The lower I went the more it became just white "slices" on the waves not discernable as the bird. Even at this height you can begin to see the effect at the bottom of the neck and the top of the neck/head. It got more and more amorphous as I lowered to a more classic position. I will have to pay more attention to alignment of the camera in the future. Again, thanks for you help!!!!

[John Cooper]

A nice composition of this egret with reflection David. You have handled the exposure well to retain good details in the white plumage. Maybe a little more space on left would improve the composition for me. Good effort.

[Anita Rakestraw]

In my not-so-expert opinion, reflections don't have to be smooth mirror images to be interesting and appealing. I like distorted ones, too and think this is a pretty image. Are the white horizontal-ish lines on the bird reflections of light off the water? I've noticed these on other images here occassionally.

[David Roach]

Hi Anita, Yes, those are reflections of the very low angle sun off the ripples in the water. You get this effect whenever imaging in rippled water with low angle (early morning in this instance) sun. Some find it distracting; I like the effect. Thanks for looking!

[Arthur Morris]

Well done. Needs a big CW rotation. For a display print, you could take ten mintues and get rid of all the black (bubbles???) in the BKG and the black schutz in the foreground.

later and love, artie

[David Roach]

Thanks again for the help!!! I will be sure and rotate (have canvas in this case) and make it "schmutzless" before printing.

[Judd Patterson]

Hey David, I love it with the nice reflection. Good work to find an angle where you could include both! The ripples around the beak are a nice touch too. See you around!

[Glenn Ehmke]

Love the reflection, and actually really like the shadow in the BG as well. Gives you 3 bird forms converging on the ripples where it's just had peck.

Maybe a bad idea, but you could also accentuate the shadow form by masking around it and darkening it?