Great White in the Woods

[Cathy McEntee]

I took a walk with my camera the other day at lunchtime to Greenfield Lake. A lot of great white egrets starting to build nests. C&C appreciated.

Nikon D7000 Sigma 150-500 @ 500mm
ISO 1000, f 6.3, 1/1250 HH
This was a vertical shot with cropping from top and a little from bottom of image.
Minor adjustments in LR3, pruning, sharpening, levels CS5

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Cathy,

Greetings. I really like the feather display & detail. Perhaps a few steps to the left to bring the head off the tree in the bg and better angle on the head & body. I like the contrast & color.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Joel Eade]

You captured a nice display of breeding plumage and the exposure looks good, nice detail in the whites and the sharpness is good too.

With the bird sort of stretched out I might consider a horizontal crop.

Nicely done, I like it alot.:S3:

[pat lillich]

Cathy, those feathers are exquisite, and i love the contrast against the dark background. would also love to see a horizontal crop - beautiful photo.

[Cathy McEntee]

Thanks for your comments Michael, Joel and Pat. When I first spotted the bird, I took some horizontal shots and clipped the bird's feet. When he started fluffing up the plumes I switched to vertical to get the entire bird in the frame. I was able to get to higher ground and got some horizontal shots but the plumes were down by then. Greenfield Lake is a great place to spot many different birds, but between the swamp (and gators), dense trees and branches obstructing body parts--it can be a bit of a challenge.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Cathy,

What I didn't say before is it's neat to see an egret in the forest against the greens. I usually see them along the beach & associated waterways.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Cathy McEntee]

Yes Michael I know. The Bald Cypress trees have Spanish Moss hanging on the branches, and the white egrets look very cool sitting up there with all the moss around them while the GBHs are hard to spot as they blend so well with the moss.