lynettemariephotography

white heron head

NIKON D3300

settings

Aperture f/5.3 ISO 400 Shutter 10/3200 Focal Length 1750/10

upload_date

May, 2015

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at the famous St. John's River, in Central Florida at the Swamphouse Marina. I was in the beginning stages of self-learning photography when I met "Whitey". He is the local white heron at the marina. He is very domesticated and doesn't frighten too easily. Not that one can pet him, mind you. He's just used to people and hanging out with them in hopes of getting a fish thrown his way. Whitey waits for his meals to be delivered by the incoming fishing boats. In this particular image, Whitey was standing on top of a picnic table posing beautifully. I continue to visit him periodically.

Time

As it turned out, this photo was taken just prior to the golden hour. The sun wasn't quite bright enough to be harsh, but softer as the sky was preparing to take on the golden hues. I love the wildlife on the local St. John's River. It's very relaxing to be surrounded in nature and have an abundance of wildlife. During the summer in Florida, the wildlife seem to hibernate deep into the swamp areas surrounding the river to keep cool. During the other months, they are plentiful and enjoy the mild temperatures and sunshine.

Lighting

The lighting was perfect, actually. I couldn't have planned it any better. At this point in my early photography lessons, I feel I just got lucky with this shot. To be perfectly honest, it's one of my all time favorite images because of how it turned out without trying. Sometimes when there are plans for photographing during a certain timeframe at a location, photos don't turn out like you envisioned them. In this case, there was no planning involved. My only plan was to go to the river and take some photos in hopes of learning a few techniques. This was well worth the experiment!

Equipment

My Nikon D3300 with my 200 mm lens was used in this photo. No flash, all-natural lighting and no tripod. Simply walking around snapping away with my camera around my neck. Nothing fancy or complicated about it. I used my mind as a tool to remain calm and quiet as I approached Whitey. Sudden movements and loud or unfamiliar noises will easily scare the subject into fleeing.

Inspiration

Whitey inspired me to capture his natural beauty. He was standing on the picnic table by the marina posing as if waiting for someone to come along and admire his handsomeness. When this photo was complete, my self-confidence soared. Nature has always been near and dear to me. I respect, marvel, and love nature. One could say, nature is my muse and produces my most popular images. Thank you, Whitey! You helped make me a better photographer.

Editing

My post-processing is completed in Photoshop. It's what I first learned, so I've stuck with it. There may be some better solutions, such as Lightroom and Photoshop combined. However, since I've found my style with Photoshop, why fix what isn't broken. There is still a lot I need to learn in Photoshop to enhance my post processing. Everyday I learn something new. Perhaps one day, I'll learn another post-processing software package. For now, I'm quite happy with PS.

In my camera bag

My camera backpack contains my Nikon D3300, of course, 85 mm Nikon lens, 200 mm Nikon lens, my Nikon Macro lens, a crystal ball (because everyone needs one of those in their life), a copper pipe to obtain the ring of fire, a squeaker from a dog toy to grab the attention of my boys (Shelties) and small children (in case I'm photographing them). The obvious cleaning cloths and equipment, chapstick, Biotene mouth moisturizer - because sometimes you run out of water and your mouth gets dry, 3 fully charged batteries, and a Crown Royal bag which holds my crystal ball. Hmmm, perhaps I have something there. Crystal ball with Crown Royal. (smiling)

Feedback

Get lucky. Seriously though, try to be relaxed and in a peaceful mindset before photographing wildlife. All wildlife can easily sense tension, fear, and excitement. Their natural instincts are to run away. So, no stress when photographing wildlife. They will run and you'll end up more stressed. Next, be quiet. Make sure you have all of your equipment ready to lift and shoot. Standing far away with your camera focused start snapping as you slowly make your way as close as you can to your subject. I usually slow down the snapping when I know and feel that I can get closer. The sound of the click may scare the subject. So you want to be prepared and try to get that 'magical' shot before they escape you. If they do, try to quickly adjust your settings for speed and get a great in-flight shot.

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lynettemariephotography

lynettemariephotography

white heron head

Behind The Lens

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