DSC_1471-GBH-7x5
Jun, 2015Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
No matter what time of year, The San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, CA always has something worth shooting. I guess that's one of the reasons the Sea and Sage Audubon society has its headquarters there.Time
I was on an early morning bird walk with a friend. We has already seen a bunch of birds and were on our way to calling it a day. On our final approach to our cars we passed by an opening in the rushes that surround one of the ponds on the property, and noticed a large, stationary object in the corner of our eyes. The Great Blue Heron was standing perfectly still, less than 10 feet away, waiting for a fish to arrive. That would have been a great shot by itself, but in an instant he shot his head into the water and came up with a fish on the end of his beak.Lighting
It was still relatively early so we still had the morning light. It was diffused and warm so everything was lit indirectly giving a more intense saturation of the subtleties in the blues and grays of his plumage.Equipment
I used a Nikon D7100 with a Nikkor 55-300 lens. Handheld.Inspiration
I love being able to capture a moment in time and revisit it time and time again. In this case the struggle of daily life for a Great Blue Heron is fascinating to study.Editing
I didn't do much in the way of post-processing on this one mainly because this was one of the first shots in my brief tenure as a photographer, so I didn't know much about Lightroom and what its capabilities are. Plus I didn't even know enough to shoot Camera Raw, so this has always existed as a jpeg. I spent some time darkening the background to make the subject stand out as much as possible. And I think I added a subtle vignette for the same purpose.In my camera bag
I have a bunch of stuff in my bag, but I take very little with me on a bird walk. In my bag I have a 10.5mm Fish Eye, 105mm Micro, 55-300 zoom lens, 18-140 zoom lens, and an 80-400 zoom lens with a 1.4 Extender. All lenses are Nikkor lenses. I always have a tripod available. And these days I pretty much always am using a monopod with the 80-400. I also have some polarizing filters, shutter release and an infrared remote control. Oh yeah, an extra battery and SD cards.Feedback
Shots like this are a matter of luck as much as technique. The more you get out to shoot the better your chances of getting lucky. But you have to be prepared when you get your chance. I shoot in aperture priority mode, set to a minimum of 1/1000th shutter speed with automatic ISO set to go no higher than 6400 so I don't have to deal with enormous amounts of grain. If I can't get the shot under those specifications, I'm not sure it will be worth getting.
