It Must Be Egret Week

[Bob Decker]

Wednesday I paddled out the the Middle Marshes in Back Sound between Beaufort and Harkers Island, NC to seek out the egret rookery reported to be out there. I had no trouble locating the rookery. Although it was nearly high noon I took a few shots despite the harsh light. Below is one of them.

Handheld from the 'yak, 40D, Bigma @ 500mm, iso 500, f/8.0, 1/2000, exp. comp -.33. RAW conversion via CS3 and included slight boosts to Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation. In Photoshop I sharpened the birds and tweaked them using Shadow/Highlights slightly to bring out a bit more detail, reduced noise in the background and also reduced the saturation on the background a bit... it was just too green!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Nice job with the exposure, like the f/8 to get lens sweet spot and the aperture reduced light input. I assume the yak is moving during the photo shoot or can you anchor to help with sharpness.

Nice habitat image sweet getting them both.

[Bob Decker]

I assume the yak is moving during the photo shoot or can you anchor to help with sharpness.

Thanks for the kind comments, Jeff. If possible I ground the kayak on a sand bar or the shore around 10 to 20 yards from my subject. Exactly how close depends on the environment and how permitting the subject is. I've encounteres some shore birds that would explore the sand near the boat after I'd sat for a while... close enough that I could've touched them with my paddle if I'd wanted to! If grounding the boat isn't an option I position the boat up current and just drift past the subject. It gets extra tricky when I can't ground the boat. While always a key factor, when floating/drifting a fast shutter speed and a healthy dose of luck really helps. What really aggrivates me is when I get my composition just right and, as I press the shutter button, a little wave rolls the boat and I end up cutting off the subjects head or feet! ;) Always shoot a healthy number of frames with the knowledge that most are going to the trash bin.

I'm still learning this kayak business. I think I'm up to a whopping 6 trips. I've gotten a lot of advice from a North Carolina photographer named Jared Lloyd, and learned quite a bit by reading his blog also. You can also find a few articles out there if you search. It's all a learning process but that's half the fun. I'm amazed at how many different birds I can photograph in a couple hours time using the kayak. Part of that is that a water approach doesn't startle the birds like a ground approach does. Part of it is the density of shore birds that are found along North Carolina's Crystal Coast; the Rachel Carson Estuarine Reserve and the Cape Lookout National Seashore.