Puffed Up Great Blue Heron
Canon EOS 40D
Aperture f/5.6 ISO 640 Shutter 1/1600 Focal Length 280/1 
Darlington, Maryland, US
Feb, 2019Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken was at Conowingo Dam in Darlington, MD.Time
This photo was taken around 9:00 in the morning.Lighting
I always try to get to the dam for sunrise because the morning light is usually shining up the river on the river bank so the wildlife is nicely lit up by the sun.Equipment
Canon EOS 40D with a 70-210mm telephoto lens with a 1.4 converter.Inspiration
This was truly a "right place at the right time" moment. I was spending the day at Conowingo Dam hoping to get photos of some of the bald eagles that hang out around the dam. As there is a great blue heron rookery also in that area, on this particular day there were a lot of herons hanging out at the dam as well. They are usually across the river on an island but on this morning there were a dozen or so hanging out on the rocks just on the other side of the fence. I was enjoying taking pictures of the herons up close. Just as I went to take this picture the heron extended its feathers. I'm not really sure what inspired this action as I had never seen a great blue heron do this before, nor have I seen it since.Editing
Unlike most photographers I don't shoot in RAW as I do not have the time, experience, or software to process that format. Since I shoot in JPEG my processing is limited. This photo is cropped with a bit of exposure/contrast tweaking.In my camera bag
I don't shoot with the Canon much anymore as I no longer have the telephoto lens. Currently I am using a Sony RX10 III which is an all in one camera with a built in 28-600mm lens. So that us usually the only thing I am carrying, as well as several batteries!Feedback
Just keep shooting! You never know what might happen when!!
