Tricolored Heron Portrait

[Blake Shadle]

Micah and I headed out to Ft. Desoto on Saturday morning. I checked the tide, and I knew the wind direction... we were in for a good morning. When we drove up to the parking area of North Beach around 7:00AM, there were hundreds of cars parked! One thing I forgot to check... Pinellas County's web site for events! There was a massive triathlon taking place that morning, hundreds of people lined the shore line ready to start their leg of the race. Thankfully, in the lagoon of North Beach, the birds went about their business unaffected by everything that was going on.

I had the pleasure of meeting Paul J. Fusco at Desoto that morning. He's a great guy and a great photographer. (You'll be seeing an image of him in Friends & Family later today! Al taught me well... always get an F&F image :D)
EDIT: Here's Paul, http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9749

Shooting Solution
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Sigma 500 f/4.5, manually focused
Manual Exposure, 1/1600 @ f/8
ISO 400, 4th Gen 2.5 head on Gitzo 1410 legs

Thanks for looking!

Comments welcome and appreciated :)

[Jim Poor]

Really awesome detail in this one.

[Alfred Forns]

Way to go Blake !!!! Looking forward to seeing Paul !!!! Sure is a good photographer !!!

Absolutely love the colors on this one !!!! I'm drooling Very impressive !!!!

[Raul Quinones]

Great picture, the feather detail is incredible.
Love this forum because it give me a goal of the images that I want to accomplish, this is one I will coming back for inspiration.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The blue-on-blue looks great, and the red eye pops very nicely amid all that blue. :-)

[Stephen Stephen]

Blake I really like this very sharp portrait. Well done.

[Robert O'Toole]

Funny thing blake, they do the same thing at DeSoto every year! Last year the line thorugh the toll booth was horrendous. I beat them all getting over thankfully.

Nice image, love the sharpness and the feathers flipped up in the back.


I think you should have used F64 to get the end of the bill sharper and it really needs at least .02 degree CCW rotation :)

Seriously really looks great, I wouldnt change a thing.

Robert

[David Kennedy]

Funny thing blake, they do the same thing at DeSoto every year! Last year the line thorugh the toll booth was horrendous. I beat them all getting over thankfully.

That's right--it was during the first IPT, wasn't it?

[Linda Robbins]

Beautiful portrait, Blake! Gorgeous color and sharpness. Love it!

[Blake Shadle]

I think you should have used F64 to get the end of the bill sharper and it really needs at least .02 degree CCW rotation :)

Seriously really looks great, I wouldnt change a thing.

Robert

I actually tried one at f/128... but I kept getting the center of the earth in focus...

Thanks for the comments, everyone. This is the only image I've been able to process since Saturday, so I'll have a lot more soon. (Once I get 100 other things finished ;))

[Kirk Benson]

Love this portrait Blake, beautiful in every detail. Very, very well done!

Thanks for commenting on my GBH shot (new D300). I am AMAZED at the quality of exposure right out of the camera, very little PP needed. I loved my D70 but WOW, no comparison.

Looking forward to some more of your shots from this outing.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Beautiful plumage and light, some might find it a tad oversharpened but I like it as is.

[Harold Davis]

Nice one, Blake!! Great detail and beautiful colors.