White-morph Reddish Egret

[Mike Milicia]

EOS-1D Mk IV, 500mm f/4 + 1.4xII, 1/3200, f/8, ISO 800
About 70% of Full Frame

Photographed last week on the Bay side of Mustang Island State Park, just south of Port Aransas, TX.
I was surprised to learn that the white morph is fairly common in this area, about a 50-50 split according to one of the locals.

Looking forward to your comments and critiques!

[Michael Wolf]

A stunning capture! Beautiful low angle and captured in mid stide. Outstanding!

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent! Soft light, pose and techs - all work beautifully in here.

[Nancy Bell]

Love the action...especially the front foot just starting the touch the water while the back foot has already left the water!

[allanrube]

Terrific action pose.

[Levina de Ruijter]

A very good image. Love the low angle and the mid run pose. I only wish the wings were up more so the far wing wouldn't 'touch' the bird's neck, and I also wish there were a bit more space for the bird to run into.

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool pose, like this a lot!

[Dumay de Boulle]

Aweome low angle and and pose....Very nice exp and natural colors. great image Mike

[Mike Milicia]

Thanks to all for taking the time to comment!

Levina, I share your wishes and also wish I had gotten a bit more of a head turn.

[stuart wanuck]

nice image mike hard to catch those birds

[Steven Kersting]

Fantastic capture...love the "running on water" aspect. WB and sharpness are very good. I think the head position is perfect for the body lines and action.

I do think it's a bit hot...There are details in the side that can be recovered, and if it were shot in RAW there's probably some that could be recovered in the far wing. Stretching the BG to the left and placing the eye on the L 1/3 line would help slightly and is easy to do.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Fantastic action image of this active species!! I would only give it a slight boost in saturation for the bill/face and water. Way to go!!

[Mike Tracy]

Cool running pose. Agree with Dan about increasing the sat. on the face and bill.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great pose and angle captured here...

[Jaap Bakker]

Beautiful pose,nice white.
Like it a much.