GBH With Nesting Materia

Gallery: AvianPosted January 10, 201170 views4 comments

I noticed some increased Great Blue Heron activity around some nests from last year at Bolsa Chica Eco Reserve, I was getting some shots of some grebe activity when I noticed this GBH flying towards me. I was a bit excited and paned up to it as it approached. I got some shots off. When I reviewed my shots in the camera, I was pleased to note the nesting material it was carrying. Wish I had lowered my ISO (seems to be a recurring theme with me).. Just a little sharpening and brightened the shadows in levels. Crop shows 60% of original.
Comments are appreciated.
01-06-2011, 10:30 a.m.
Canon 7D
300 2.8L w 1.4 ext
420mm
f/5.6
1/5000
ISO 640
Exposure Comp - 1/3
Tripod

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on January 10, 2011 at 7:28 PM

The large branch of nesting material makes this an interesting behavioral image for me Harry. That said, the heron seems much too dark to me.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on January 10, 2011 at 9:47 PM

Nice behavioral shot with the nesting material. I'm with Ron on the heron. It is pretty dark. Your specs note negative exposure compensation. Shooting into a brighter sky requires positive exposure compensation. Probably at least +1 1/3 or more.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 10, 2011 at 11:52 PM

Nice angle, Harry. I agree with the others about the exposure compensation, though it's a tough one to choose-particularly since it looks like your had a combination of blue sky and white clouds. In that kind of situation, I've started using manual exposure and exposing for neutral grays. It usually gets close and you can experiment with it and see which way you want to go-just shoot some uninteresting subjects of the same (or similarly toned) species and look at the histogram. Neat behavior. We have quite awhile before they start thinking about nesting up here, though I usually start seeing them at the local rookery in February.

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

Comment posted by Angela McCain on January 11, 2011 at 9:48 PM

Nice action photo. While it's too late to shoot +1 ev, I do think you could bring this up quite a bit with the shadow/highlight tool in PS. You will get a lot more detail, but possibly some noise too. A worthy exchange, IMO.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments