Tri Color Heron from Fort DeSoto

[Grady Weed]

Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Shooting Date/Time 1/30/2008, Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/2000Sec. Av(Aperture Value) F11, Evaluative metering, Exposure Compensation -1, ISO 400, Lens EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM, Focal Length 300.0 mm. From tripod, mid-morning, around 10 am. Cropped for a 9x12. About 70 percent of frame here.

This was from Fort DeSoto park at the lagoon south of pavillion 5. One of the rangers told me the Redish egret was at the small strip of water just behind pavillion 5, but he was gone when we arrived. So went in search of other subjects. We found Sanderling's, Lesser Yellowlegs, Western Sandpiper's and this Tri Color Heron. It came so close I had to back up.

This is my final picture before we beat feet for the airport and back to the frozen North here in Maine. We now have 90 inches of snow and it is coming down as I post this. My snow banks are 8 feet high and the snow blower cannot throw it any higher. We hired a 4x4 bucket loader, a 920 Cat, to scoop it up and dump it further back! It took me 12 hours to shovel my 2 story roof. I miss the glades!

[Fabs Forns]

Nice and fluffy, well exposed. The head angle police would get you here :)

Isn't Fort Desoto great???

[Robert O'Toole]

The fluffiness is great and the colors look fantastic. Even though the sun is a little harsh it still looks good.

Moving to the left would have helped with the head angle.

Thanks for sharing and for the background story.

Robert

[Axel Hildebrandt]

We don't have nearly as much snow, and I really sympathize with you. :) I like the fluffed-up pose and raised foot and wish for more head turn and a lower angle.

[Blake Shadle]

Nice image, Grady. I thought of two things immediately when I saw this image, head angle and camera angle. A bit of a head turn is much needed here. A little squeek out of the side of your mouth should do the trick. Also, get really low. Getting low (or increasing the distance between you and the bird while increasing your focal length) will make for a more pleasing angle. It will also add seperation between your subject and its background, blurring out the background. In my opinion, f/11 was way too much DOF, and was the cause of so much water-junk being in focus. f/6.3 would have given you plenty of DOF for this guy, fluff and all and made for a more pleasing background. Keep it up!