Egret Ballet

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF400mm f/5.6L

1/2500sec f/8 ISO 500 HH

Crop, S/H, Sharpening in CS5
NR in Noiseware Pro

[Randy Stout]

Ian:

I keep waiting for the music to start! Very fun capture with great pose, splashes, angle in frame. Nice job on whites, which can be really tricky with all the reflections.
How big of a crop?

Well captured.

Randy

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Randy. I'm not very good at estimating % crop, but it's pretty large. I so wish I had a 500 f/4!

I spent the morning as a self-assignment working on Egrets specifically trying to get a feel for exposure of the white bird.

[Randy Stout]

Ian:

I often give myself assignments on outings. It is so easy to get distracted by all the different options, that you don't learn much on a specific subject. Good plan.
Yes, the longer lens is nice. But, I have seen a lot of outstanding images from the 400 f /5.6 lens, so keep working it!

Cheers
Randy

[Ian Cassell]

The place (Riperian Preserve in Gilbert, AZ) was swarming with feeding egrets Thursday morning, so it seemed like a logical thing to work on :)

Yes, I've been very happy with the 400. You're not allowed to go wading there, however, so I am focal-length limited by distance from shore.

[Steve Zamek]

I love the sense of action elicited by this pose, with the outstretched wings and water splashing of the legs. Exposure and sharpness are spot-on. The soft water and reflections add to the image. And the under-wing reflections are quite interesting; nice to get some additional light there.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Steve. The reflection on the wings really attracted me as well.