Late Afternoon Ballet

[Joe Senzatimore]

The sun finally broke through this afternoon so took a short walk on Estero lagoon to catch some afternoon light. The Tri-color was kind enough to do it's dance for a short while.

800 ISO f5.6 at 1/2500th

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

Glad you caught some sunlight!

Nice colors, soft light, complimentary colors in Background, good pose.

I like the bubbles, but might blur/darken the last few on the right. I find them line of bubbles leading me out of the frame. Small thing really.

Perhaps one more round of sharpening on the eye/head.

Cheers

Randy

[Jim Fenton]

I do enjoy the light and the colors in the water.

Looks like it could use some CW rotation and I wish the wing spread were wider and also wish for a better head angle.

Agree with randy on the head /eye sharpening.

[Deborah Hanson]

I like the soft glow of the photo. The colors of the bird are reflected in the background - which is a nice touch. The bubbles show the movement from the bird.
Wing detail is great. Question (as I'm trying to learn): The shutter speed is 1/2500 and aperture 5.6. In the evening, is it better to have a higher shutter speed/lower aperture to catch the details? Or if every situation is different, how did you decide the shutter speed/aperture.

Thanks
Deb

[Dan Fleming]

I love to see them tiptoe through the water. You've got great light here. Personally, I love the bubble train. I think it conveys the sense of direction the heron took in getting to where this was shot. I'm not bothered by the group to the right. If the bird had been totally cooperative he might have given us a bit more of a 3/4 profile. Good work.

[Joe Senzatimore]

I like the soft glow of the photo. The colors of the bird are reflected in the background - which is a nice touch. The bubbles show the movement from the bird.
Wing detail is great. Question (as I'm trying to learn): The shutter speed is 1/2500 and aperture 5.6. In the evening, is it better to have a higher shutter speed/lower aperture to catch the details? Or if every situation is different, how did you decide the shutter speed/aperture.

Thanks
Deb

Yes Deb. No two situations are alike. This is the combination my handheld incident meter gave me for the ISO I chose. In most cases ,when using a long lens it is best to have as much shutter speed as possible as a long lens tends to magnify any shake/vibrations,etc. This is not always a hard/fast rule as sometimes you may want a slower shutter speed to achieve a certain effect such as a motion blurr. Hope this helps some.