American Bitterns
I shot this Bittern in a slough at Spring Valley OH. Originally was shooting the bird in tall grass with just neck and head exposed which is typically all I ever see with these birds very secretive. I then bumped the bird and he flew to the fallen sycamore. I thought he will not stay in the exposed position. After waiting for him to come back I decided to approach and try and get a back-lit shot. Not really accessible with lots of branches and a steep slope. I then thought he has stayed for at least 20 minutes maybe I can approach from the back side of the swamp. Wading in knee deep water to my surprise he was still in position.I took lots of shots some the light is too hard and got some in a vertical position. Even used some flash as the later shots were in shade. The light was changing quickly. This I think was one of the better shots.
Canon 5D Mark 1V 300 2.8 2x converter 111
shooting mode AV
shutter speed !/2000
Aperture 6.3
ISO 1250
Hand held
Post processing Dpp4 Photoshop patch tool clean up on the bill, remove distracting sun ray,levels, sharpened.
