BC Night Heron

Gallery: AvianPosted May 21, 2011185 views13 comments

Gathering Nest Material from the top of a Eucalyptus tree
Baylands, Palo Alto

"Dedicated With "love" to the exceptionally rude jerk with the 600mm and tripod who kept stepping in front of me, saying "You can't possibly be getting decent images hand-holding that lens. It's just impossible"

I was finished with my panning and burst of flight shots before he even got his tripod/lens in the right position.

D300s
500mm
Subject dist: 38m
1/2500 sec, f/8
Mode: Av
Metering: Multi-segment
Exp comp: -1/3
ISO: 500
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off
Hand-held as usual

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Harry Harris on May 21, 2011 at 11:28 PM

Sandy, WOW what a great image of a BCNH. Open wings and a flying white head feather, what is not to like about this image. Oh yah and the behavior and environment won me over. Do you hand-hold a 500? lol.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 169 Posts, 741 Comments

Comment posted by Jeff Loomis on May 21, 2011 at 11:37 PM

Excellent Sandy! Love the wing position and the nesting material is a nice a nice bonus. Great job on the exposure too. Glad you came away with a winner, despite the inconsiderate person you had work around.

Registered on January 26, 2010, 68 Posts, 719 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on May 22, 2011 at 4:47 AM

A very nice image Sandy. Love the behavior and comp. Hand hold a 500. No way. How about a 500 plus 1.4x TC, wonder what the jerk would think about that. Don't you just love people who put you down just because they see you succeeding at something they could never succeed at. I have had it happen to me. Then I show them the images on my camera's LCD screen zoomed in to 100% and they see how sharp they are. That usually shuts them up.

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

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on May 22, 2011 at 7:48 AM

Nice details throughout, great colors and well exposed Sandy.
Terrific nest building pose/behavior, like this POV too..
Well done!

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

Comment posted by John Robinson on May 22, 2011 at 8:27 AM

Good one .Great exposure control.
(They don't step in front over here - they step on you

)
JohnR

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on May 22, 2011 at 11:06 AM

Your results speak for themselves. Well done.

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

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on May 22, 2011 at 3:31 PM

Nice timing on the landing Sandy to capture this extended wing position. Love the blown back nape and trailing head feathers-great action.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on May 22, 2011 at 3:50 PM

Very nice work on the whites, Sandy. Good catch on the BCH in an animated pose. But wait...did you use the words, love and jerk in the same descriptive sentence?

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on May 22, 2011 at 5:20 PM

Cool image Sandy. Love the detail. Hand-held?

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

Comment posted by Graham Brown on May 23, 2011 at 6:28 AM

Love the composition Sandy. It's really sharp throughout and I expect the shutter speed has overcome any hand holding problems. Exposure was spot on giving excellent feather detail. I doubt whether the "jerk" could match this. Graham

Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by antino cervigni on May 24, 2011 at 7:50 AM

Excellent work with impressive lighting and details
Regards Antino

Registered on April 17, 2010, 70 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on May 24, 2011 at 12:09 PM

Hope you got the jerks card so you can send him the image you couldn't possibly get.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments

Comment posted by David Williams on May 24, 2011 at 1:04 PM

Sandy, as Bugs would say "What a maroon!" that guy was. You've shown us nicely that Bugs would have been right! Great catch.

Registered on March 8, 2005, 315 Posts, 2291 Comments