Grey Heron take off

[Stu Bowie]

When taking off from a tree, Herons normally swoop down slightly, before gaining height to fly off into the blue yonder. In this shot, The Heron was in his downward flight path, and he had just happened to have passed in front of a large water spray in the distance that is used to circulate the water in this dam at the Heron Rookery. The natural OOF spray reminded me of a distant waterfall. Taken early morning at the University of Pretoria.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +2X TC = 600mm
1/1250
F/5.6
ISO 800

Hand Held

[William Dickson]

Lovely flight pose Stu with nice detail on the underwing. I like the BG colours which compliment the bird real well. Beautiful bright eye which sets off the image nicely.

Will

[Bob Smith]

A lovely background indeed Stu and I like the way you've kept the colours of the heron softly muted to match (except the eye---a bright yellow eye always works well with these birds)---a good lesson for me as I have a tendency to "pop" colours in my processing that I constantly am struggling to suppress.

[Glenn Pure]

The background is what drew my attention to this when I saw the thumbnail. Not something you'd get every day! Your framing and composition is first class and tones and colours handled with great skill, especially underwing. Thanks for sharing.

[David Salem]

What a great looking background for this Beautiful shot. Awesome details and I love the trailing feet. Well done Stu

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Lovely bg that complements the tones of the heron so well. Great flight pose and timing. Well done!

TFS,
Rachel