I created this image a couple of weeks ago at Mud Lake, one of our local birding haunts. Apparently this heron had been frequenting a particular cove everyday around 1:30 in the afternoon. Despite the terrible time of day for photography I decided to see what I could come up with. At one point in the 30-40 minutes I spent with this bird a meadowhawk dragonfly decided to try out a new perch.
Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 50-500mm at 500mm. 1/2000 seconds, FNumber - 6.30, ISO - 400
Flash - Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode
Cropped to about 80% of full frame and two OOF pale leaves cloned out from the duckweed BG. Noise reduction with Neat Image.
Last edited by Stephen Stephen; 09-28-2009 at 08:37 PM.
Lovelry bird and BKGR and you did a great job in the harsh light by working right down the light angle. Using a lot of flash might have lightened the eye which is actually in the shadow of the bird's brow.
And oh, the dragonfly is killer.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Fill flash might have been helpful as noted above, great BG and composition. This picture has a lot of personality and that is created by the photographer - well done.
First thing caught my eye is the beautiful BG, but than I saw the dragonfly. It is a fantastic addition to the image :-). Light is harsh as mentioned, however I think you did a good job on the exposure. Congrats.
Artie, Jeff, Lorant, Harshad, David and Rohan thank you all for your comments.
I agree that some fill flash would have lightened the eye but I purposely did not use is as I was one of several photographers around the small cove trying to create images of this bird. I was in the closest, and perhaps best position, so I choose to mimimise anything that would have frightened the bird and ruined photo opportunities for the others.
For you information I just missed creating another image of the dragonfly when it landed on the bird's bill. I was checking the exposure on another frame when I looked up only to see the dragonfly take flight when the bird gave a quick head shake. :(
Great capture Stephen. The dragonfly certainly is a nice bonus. A bit of work on the shadowed eye may be worth it. The duckweed sure did provide a nice BG.
Juvenile Black Crowned Heron & Friend
Reply With Quote
