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Great Blue Heron - 15

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Great Blue Heron - 15
Copyright ©2007, Leon Plympton
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This GBH was quite a ways from any water as it walked amids the tall grass searching for prey.

For the better part of an hour I watched this same bird as it stood nearly motionless at the water's edge waiting, waiting and waiting for some unsuspecting fish or frog to get just close enough for a late afternoon snack. So much for patience.

After its long wait next to the canal this GBH flew a short distance, landing surprisingly close to me where it began strolling through the high grass searching for prey, occasionally disappearing behind the foliage and then reappearing again.

I took this photo when the GBH stopped for an instant, opening its mouth, as if to say, "Ah-hah!" As this drama played out it reminded me that millions of years ago feathered dinosaurs stalked through similar terrain in much the same way.

Photographer:
X
Leon Plympton
Folder: Common area
Uploaded: 06-Aug-2007 04:02 CEST
Model release available:
Camera: Olympus E1
Exposure time: 1/400
Aperture: f-4.5
Focal length: 100 (200) mm
Lens: ZD 40-150mm
Focusing method: Spot
ISO: 200
White balance: Auto
Flash: no
Image format: SHQ
Processing applied:
Various:
Image resized to: 578x960

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Great Blue Heron - 15 - re-visited:

Shelley –

Thanks for your rating and kind words. And you’re right; the contrast is low. This was taken late in the afternoon with the sun behind me; however, prior to shooting at this location I was at another site where I was shooting more or less into the sun – where I had set the EV = +0.7. Long story short – I forgot to re-adjust my EV = 0.0; consequently, this photo, and quite a few others, were a bit over-exposed. I actually did bump up the contrast a bit in post processing.

I opted for ISO 200 for a couple of reasons; there were fast moving clouds passing overhead that occasionally blocked out the sun and I also wanted to keep my shutter speed above 1/250 to prevent camera shake. Actually, at one point I switched to ISO 400; it was at this point that I realized that my EV setting was not where it ought to be. That’s when I figured I’d call it a day.

-leon

Leon Plympton at 14:23 CEST on 06-Aug-2007 [Reply]