Before the Egrets

ginger_55

I ran into the Great Blue Heron, and felt darn lucky to do it. Wind was blowing again, very grey going into sunset (hidden, of course). I shot the Heron for awhile before walking further to where some helpful person swore that there was ONE egret. Heron here:




I did him up vertical, and then turned the camera and did him up horizontal. I may "dine" on these birds for several days.:rofl




ginger

Rohirrim

Nice captures Ginger. Looks like you found a not so skittish Heron.

Scott_Quier

- Very nice captures.

It looks appears, in the first one, that the GBH wasn't so sure about you being there (the head up is a sign of alert), but (s)he seems to have settled down a bit by the time you got the second capture. Well done!!

In my area, I have found only one GBH that will relax - lives on a lake in a city park. People are there all the time so I guess it's been a bit socialized. Almost all my captures of really wild ones are all on alert.

Thusie

Super as always Ginger..I love the first one it has that wonderful almost mystical quality that is so special in many of your shots

ginger_55

Thanks, Steve, Scott and Susie!

For a rotten grey day (started out blue and nice, I am not sure what happened), but considering that the wind was blowing, too, I did end up with a fair share of bird shots. Interestingly they were on the ground this time.

I suspect that heron is slightly used to people, I cannot get him to fly if he does not want. He freezes instead. (And that makes sense to me as I am learning to detect birds by movement, I suspect they do the same and also detect people that way, and I read they smell us, too. I do not smell them. ) Shocked me when he flew in as I was packing it up thinking no respectable birds would be out................. I missed the "fly in", of course. And I had to leave before the "fly out" to go find the single egret before the light went totally.

Everybird was chowing down. The weather has not been that great, maybe they were too hungry to totally spook.

It is supposed to be sunny right now, it isn't. But then I have a gazillion photos of birds, and I am tired, so.............not sure of what.

Thanks for stopping and commenting,

ginger

ginger_55

Thusie, I use a filter often, to get the effect I like. Sometimes more sometimes less. It is the gradient filter, the first one that comes on, the greyish one that looks like fog. I usually put it on reflect and invert. Then I blend it with the blend that looks best. Multiply is a good one, last night it was the one on the bottom of that group, is stronger than multiply, more contrasty.

I usually erase the filter from the bird or any middle area that I want to stand out. These are the first photos where the filter is fairly obvious. The light was so rotten that I felt accentuating the grey was appropriate. I had to decide. Artistic call there, and it is time consuming any time I have decisions to make, smile. On these two shots, I did erase the gradient filter from the first bird and forgot to do it on the second bird.

On the first shot I had moved around to get a clear shot of him, after I took the record shots, and he was a bit nervous. I "outwaited" him, hard to do with a GBH, til food became more interesting than I was. Also people walk their dogs and kids in that area, so he might freeze for a sec, then unfreeze. He waits for unusual behavior, like mine! I will spook a bird where as a jogger, kids, dogs, have no effect. The click of a shutter, the bird might be gone. I have read to wait 15 min for the bird to get used to you. My light was going.

On the second shot, it was a tad later, Scott you are right, he has relaxed a bit, plus they seem to relax and freeze, relax and freeze. Dangers appear to come from everywhere in these birds minds. They will alert me to other birds. If I am thinking, a rarity.

ginger

snapapple

Beautiful, Ginger. #1 is my favorite. I love the vertical composition with the reflection. The grey misty look is so peaceful.

Harryb

That first shot