Reddish Egret WM

Gallery: AvianPosted November 25, 2010418 views19 comments

Egretta rufescens

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it, I hope your day is great.

This photo was taken in Florida at Fort DeSoto's north beach. My 80-400mm VR lens was being repaired, I didn't like taking my 200-400mm VR to the beach and exposing it to sand & salt so I opted to use my 70-300MM VR.

I had been taking images of this breeding plumage white morph Reddish Egret while it hunted and danced in the waves of the Gulf. It must have decided to look for better hunting grounds and lifted off almost right in front of me. I zoomed back because I didn't want to clip the wings and at first it looked like the white morph was going to head towards me. I really loved the soft blue sky and clouds in this image.

D200, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 250, 70-300mm VR at 125mm, natural light, not baited. 57% of original frame, larger version provided.

As always, I sincerely appreciate your comments & critiques, thank you for looking.

Comments

19 comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on November 25, 2010 at 8:35 AM

Great comp and POV Mia, love that soft blue sky & clouds in your BG too

Happy Thanksgiving!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Joel DeYoung on November 25, 2010 at 8:43 AM

You nailed the exposure and I really like the comp and colors. Well done.

Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

Registered on July 12, 2009, 92 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Alan Murphy on November 25, 2010 at 9:50 AM

Sweet flight shot with great detail in the whites.

Registered on December 3, 2003, 192 Posts, 739 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Mason on November 25, 2010 at 10:19 AM

Lovely! I like the blue detail around the eye. Good DOF too.

Registered on December 14, 2005, 399 Posts, 2305 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Elwood on November 25, 2010 at 10:23 AM

Great light Mia! Lovely exposure and BG and along with the composition makes for a real winner! Congrats!!

Registered on January 15, 2010, 101 Posts, 396 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on November 25, 2010 at 11:41 AM

Very nice. Excellent wing position showing good detail.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on November 25, 2010 at 12:44 PM

Exceptional sky behind this guy - near-perfect flight pose and beautiful colors.

Happy T-Day to all!

Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Geoffrey Baker on November 25, 2010 at 12:53 PM

Great exposure here, not an easy bird to get right I'd imagine.
Well done.

Geoff.

Registered on August 20, 2010, 192 Posts, 980 Comments

Comment posted by Karen Summers on November 25, 2010 at 2:05 PM

lovely shot the exposure is lovely and the colour of that sky is beautiful

Registered on December 3, 2009, 83 Posts, 818 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on November 25, 2010 at 3:56 PM

My eye tracks right to the blue on that birds face. Another typically lovely image from you.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on November 25, 2010 at 5:16 PM

Sweet, love the BG here Mia. The bird is exposed very well and you caught it in a great position. Nice detail and overall comp.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on November 25, 2010 at 5:29 PM

You certainly used the zoom to great advantage here, Mia. You were ready in case the bird did come towards you but obtained a beautiful shot at only a 57% crop when it did not. Lovely pose, color, background.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Eric Diller on November 25, 2010 at 6:42 PM

Nicely exposed.....great find!

Registered on October 2, 2009, 69 Posts, 434 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on November 26, 2010 at 5:42 AM

Great wing postion and soft light Mia - lovely shot

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Rohn B. McKee on November 26, 2010 at 7:37 PM

Superior Photograph Mia. Excellent exposure and sharpness. I too love the soft blue background.

Registered on November 18, 2008, 109 Posts, 415 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on November 26, 2010 at 9:01 PM

Great handling of the whites Mia. I really like everything about this shot.

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on November 26, 2010 at 11:01 PM

Beautiful texture in the wings and I do like the bg, Mia. It's a wonderful pose.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on November 27, 2010 at 12:09 AM

Sweet flight shot Mia

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on November 27, 2010 at 4:25 PM

Sweet shot, Mia. Makes me look forward to my spring trip to Fort D.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments