Stalking Snowy Egret

[Isaac Grant]

In late September I went to Wolfe's Pond Park in Staten Island to photograph a few of the remaining juvenile shorebirds. This is the best spot we have on the island for photographing water birds. After the sun went down behind the trees this Snowy Egret ventured really close to me while hunting for an evening snack. I was lying in some disgusting mud so figured I would wait until it got really close so I could get a shot like this where it showed this bird hunting in the deep shade and dark water. Wish I had a more depth of field but the bird was so close that there was no way that I could have it all in focus. So I opted for getting the head sharp and having as much shutter speed as possible. Might have been better without the 1.4x attached but if I moved I would have scared the bird.

Canon 7d mark ii with Canon 500 f4 ii + 1.4xiii. ISO 800, F5.6, SS 1/1000.

Converted in DPP 4.5. Added a bit of canvas to the right, other wise this is full frame.

[Lorant Voros]

Indeed you must have been close to have this depth and field feeling with this perspective. Nice extreme low angle. TFS.

[Kirk Benson]

Really diggin' the eye-level POV Isaac... nice intimate shot of their stalking behavior.

[dankearl]

The angle is great, although I would tone down the water as much as possible.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm nor bothered by the shallow dof one bit. I also like the neck touching the water. Very intimate hunting view we get here. Unfortunate the highlights were so bright white in the water though. Still a pretty cool frame.

[John Mack]

Like the low angle & dark background.

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks for the feedback. It is easy to tone down the highlights but I left them cause I liked the way they looked against the dark water. Seems I might be the only one.

[David Salem]

Deffinity a cool looking intimate hunting pose. Nice exposure and details and I don't mind the brighter water. Well done

[Stuart Philpott]

Isaac,i love this the pov of course the thought and choices made but probably most of all your field craft that got you here. All credit mate this has been a joy to view and inspiring for me personally. All the light in the image seems to be to do with or caused by the egret,I think that is what is so appealing to me,all credit

take care

stu