Snowy Egret on Hilton Head Island
Captured among a group of Snowy Egrets fishing along the Fish Haul Creek Park beach 5-1-2018
Captured among a group of Snowy Egrets fishing along the Fish Haul Creek Park beach 5-1-2018
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May, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at a place that was called Fish Haul Creek Park (now Mitchellville Freedom Park) on the northeast section of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Its one of my favorite spots on the East Coast to find and photograph wild birds.Time
This capture was made at 9 in the morning with the tide out.Lighting
I had very nice lighting on this morning, the sky was clear but the sun was still at a relatively low angle, giving my subjects pleasing shadows while not too harsh.Equipment
Nikon D500 DLST, handheld, with a Nikon 300mm fixed focus telephoto lens and a Nikon 1.4x teleconverter.Inspiration
I spotted a group of Snowy Egrets competing aggressively for small fish caught in the low tide pool. The subject was particularly aggressive with the other birds and kept trying to chase them away by charging them in the water or occasionally flying short distances towards them. I like animated birds so I stayed near them for quite a long time. This shot came after the bird had just landed and turned to chase another bird from the tide pool.Editing
Yes, I cropped the photo to obtain better balance and to get a little closer to the subject, and made a very small adjustment to the color balance to enhance the blue water behind the subject.In my camera bag
Nikon D500, Nikon F/4 300mm telephoto, Nikon TC14 teleconverter, Nikon Micro 105mm telephoto, Nikon 35mm f/2.8, and a Nikon 18-55 zoom.Feedback
Go early or late in day when the lighting is best, learn how close you can get to the subject without spooking it, keep the sun off one of your shoulders, not directly behind you, look for a catch light in the subject’s eye(s), shoot at a high enough f-stop to keep the entire subject in sharp focus. For action shots bracketing seldom helps, so take test shots and adjust your exposure settings according to the look you are after.
