For the past few weeks there has been a very bold American Bittern frequenting a certain local marsh. It hunts way out in the open, and close enough to allow great photos. I had not seen it due to work, but I could see many, many images of it posted online. I went a few times when I had a bit of spare time, but struck out. Until one rainy afternoon when I decided to check out the spot again. I went down to the edge of the marsh, but could not see it. I waited for a while in hopes it would come out of the reeds in front of me, but no luck.
When I had lost hope, I turned to my left to climb back up from the bank, and low and behold it was hidden on the other side of a thin wall of reeds, not twelve feet away the whole time! It had already assumed this posture to help blend with those reeds. I carefully backed up and made my way around the reeds, until it was fully in the clear. Miraculously it did not flush despite it looking like it would. I spent about 10 minutes taking full frame portraits and observing it observing me. It raised and lowered its neck a few times, which was pretty cool seeing how different it looked when it did so (I swear it doubled its height when fully outstretched!!) The very second I was done I took a step back and away it went across the marsh...
Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/500s., f/5.6, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld, full-frame, the brown area in front of the neck lightened via dodging, magenta cast removed, NR to the BG.
Last edited by Daniel Cadieux; 10-18-2016 at 08:06 PM.
Very nice image Daniel. I like the background, head angle is perfect. Good work on the framing especially since this is full frame and you framed it in the field.
Well done Daniel, isn't it good when the bird suddenly appears and hangs about till you get a few shots. Nice detail on the bird and a typical Bittern pose. lovely coloured BG as well.
I love that classic stretched out neck pose you caught him in. Lots of great details throughout and I really like the colors of the bird at the background together. Perfect composition and head angle. I'm glad you finally got a good shot at this guy
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American Bittern
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