Great Blue Heron
Blue Heron Searching for Something to Eat
Blue Heron Searching for Something to Eat
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Jul, 2019Views
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Top Shot Award 22
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Behind The Lens
Location
I was driving past a suburban micro park when this elegant gentleman flew in front of me and landed in the tiny pond in the park. I stopped, got out my gear, and watched and shot for about an hour as he waded around the pond fishing for lunch.Time
This one was unusual in that the whole episode occurred mid-day, at a time when birds are usually not very active.Lighting
The light reflecting off of the water provided a miracle color match-up with the colors of the bird. The upper colors in the background were brown and the lower colors blue, perfectly matching the colors of the feathers from the top down on the bird.Equipment
This was shot on a Canon 77D with a Tamron 150-600 telephoto lens, no filters, and hand-held.Inspiration
This bird was so magnificent that I simply could not pass on the opportunity to shot his portrait. He was very cooperative and I got quite a few good images of him on that day.Editing
I use On1 Photo Raw for post processing. For this image I did only minor adjustments. I dropped the highlights a bit, boosted the contrast and saturation a little bit, slightly warmed the browns and cooled the blues, and added a very subtle vignette. Overall, the post-processing was fairly limited.In my camera bag
If I go out for a specific purpose shoot then the contents of my bag will be appropriate for the shoot. If I am out just looking for an opportunity to shoot some images then this is what I carry: Two camera bodies - one full frame and one crop-sensor; a 150-600 telephoto lens, a 24-105 walking around lens, a 10-16 wide angle lens, a 75-300 medium telephoto lens, a tripod and a monopod, extra mounting plates for the tripod heads, a folding three legged stool, ND filters, a circular polarizer filter, adapter rings for the filters, extra batteries, a lens cleaning kit, a rain cover for the camera and lens, an intervalometer, an L-bracket, extra SD cards, a sling style camera strap, and, of course a good bag to carry all 30 pounds of this stuff. The bag I use is a Mindshft Gear Backlight 26L. I cannot praise this bag highly enough, it makes it possible to heft all of this stuff without wrecking my back and neck.Feedback
Have a camera with you all of the time, you never know when a miracle opportunity will present itself to you. It is hard to overstate how much good luck plays in getting a great image. All of the practice, all of the studying, and all of the expensive gear in the world cannot make a beautiful Great Blue Heron fly in front of your car as you are driving down the road..
