BarryHillSr

White Egret

Light North wind exposed the delicate feather's of this Egret last winter.

Light North wind exposed the delicate feather's of this Egret last winter.
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Jan, 2015

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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo on the Bay near my home in Rockport. On most piers around here, there are cleaning stations, for fisherman, that attract lots of coastal birds. Being an amateur, I tend to shoot a lot of shots. This egret was very cooperative as I moved closer in for this shot.

Time

I took this photo about an hour and a half after sunrise, or so. I always use my wide angle for the early sunrise, and as I loose the golden hour I switch to my big lense and look for birds with the brighter light. I have found that with digital photography I need to shoot a bit faster shutter speed to get the crisp picture I want.

Lighting

The lighting this morning was clear and bright. I wanted the cross-lighting to highlight this gourgeous bird. I noticed the delicate feathers blowing in the light North wind, and made a valiant effort in getting closer and shooting a lot of pics. I have learned a ton since shooting this photo. Shooting white birds up close is a challenge for any light meter. I now over expose the scene by 1 1/3 EV to get the exposure closer to correctly exposing for white. My histogram is my best friend when out shooting now.

Equipment

I am shooting an older, refurbished good but used, EOS 50D. My lense is my prize though. I love this Canon Zoom Lens EF 70-300 mm 1:4-5.6 L IS USM. With the 1.6 crop factor it can zoom into an equivalent of around 485 mm's. I was hand holding while creeping up on the egret, shooting on IS 1 mode.

Inspiration

The inspiration for this photo is quite probably the same drive that makes me go after all my bird photos. I pretty much just simply love them. They are a wonder in this great world we live in, and I think we are here to just entertain them. But really I love the perfect detail they have. Perfect beautiful symmetry! Flawless detail, and every imaginable color under the sun. Shooting pure white is the awesome challenge.

Editing

Post processing is my greatest challenge in photography. Apple help desk could write a book on me. By this stage of my attempted processing, I simply used iPhoto on my Mac just to auto correct the scene, and then up load it to the iCloud. I download the photo back to my iPad for 90% of my processing in Photos, then Beta. This shot needed some cropping but I was pretty close to the egret to begin with. I lost some highlights in the original Raw image and could not recover them all in processing. Again shooting white sunlit birds are challenging. The blues in the shadows are just what I get with Photos. Not much that I know what to do with them at this point with that software. Future software will address the blues better.

In my camera bag

My bag is a Think Tank, Street Walker, which currently looks 9 months pregnant. I have my 50D, my 70-300mm and a 17-40mm f/4 L lens. I have a couple of Hoya HMC (UV (0) filters for weather sealing my two lenses. A HOYA HMC Multi-coated Cir-polarizing filter, 67mm, for my big zoom. I don't go anywhere without my Lenspen and my Canon Remote Switch RS-80N3. I still use lens tissue with lens solution if the lens appears to smudged. I have a GIOTTO Rocket Air. My flash is a Canon 430 EX. My tripod is a SLIK PRO 340EZ. I like the tripod because it is pretty small and light. Works well for my needs at his point. I've been shooting with Lexar Professional 1066x o16GB CF UDMA 7. My most important packed items are my 2 gallon ziplock baggies. The ones that have actual zippers. Salt air is tough on equipment.

Feedback

Mornings are my favorite time. I get to shoot both my lenses for differet subjects in the morning. The telephoto is for the bird shots, although some Pelicans may want to waddle up to you and share a beer if you have one, the are pretty friendly, Try increasing your meter exposure 1 1/3 EV for white birds. Blue Heron expose pretty well with most modern cameras. Enjoy your surroundings and don't make a lot of sudden movements. They are spooky. Find someone cleaning fish and you will have a blast.

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BarryHillSr

BarryHillSr

White Egret

Light North wind exposed the delicate feather's of this Egret last winter.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow BarryHillSr

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