young ones

Harryb · June 12, 2006

Hi Y'all,

Just a few shots of the newest arrivals at the rookery

The little blue heron chicks are all white when they are born and don't start turning blue until they are a year old. They are the only species where the first year birds have a dramatically different coloration from the adult birds of the species. One of the reasons for this is that they catch more fish in the company of Snowy Egrets and the snowys tolerate there presence because they all white like the snowys. They are also safer from predators when in the company of others.

The ugliest chicks have to be the tri-colors chicks

Just look at this guy and you know there's something evil on his mind. :eek1

wolfies · June 12, 2006

great pictures i like the 5th one kind of makes you think he wants some food

Dick on Aruba · June 12, 2006

These pics are really great (as usual).

Do you use always the VR on the 80-400 or do you turn it off often? Why / why not?

Thanks for sharing.

Dick.

Osprey Whisperer · June 12, 2006

Well done Harry.

Those birds up there must be a little slow. Everything is done and over down here. Keep an eye open for the storm a coming your way. :uhoh

raian · June 12, 2006

Simply beautiful! You are by far the master. I love these. The lighting and the focus is so crisp.

raptorcaptor · June 12, 2006

Nice set! The tri-colored heron chicks seem to demand ones attention.

davespics · June 12, 2006

Other than the subject matter, these pictures are so crisp, colors are wonderful. Was there a lot of post production? Really nice....

riddim_maker · June 12, 2006

That tricolor chick does seem to have something sinister behind those wide eyes: mommy's catch all for itself

The explanation really means a lot Harry, very much appreciated.
Oh! and did I say great captures, awesome as usual

Harryb · June 12, 2006

wolfies wrote:

great pictures i like the 5th one kind of makes you think he wants some food

Thnaks for the kind words. It would be safe to say that in every shot the birds are thinking they want some food.

Harryb · June 12, 2006

Dick on Aruba wrote:

These pics are really great (as usual).

Do you use always the VR on the 80-400 or do you turn it off often? Why / why not?

Thanks for sharing.

Dick.

Thanks Dick. I keep the VR on my 80-400 because I use to shoot handheld. The only time I would turn it off would be when its on a tripod. The 80-400's VR shouldn'y be used with a tripod. There are other VR lenses that you can use on a tripod with the VR activated.

Ric Grupe · June 12, 2006

:harry

Dick on Aruba · June 12, 2006

Harryb wrote:

Thanks Dick. I keep the VR on my 80-400 because I use to shoot handheld. The only time I would turn it off would be when its on a tripod. The 80-400's VR shouldn'y be used with a tripod. There are other VR lenses that you can use on a tripod with the VR activated.

Thanks Harry.

jwear · June 13, 2006

very nice MR H good use of the light and shadows

not easy to get exposer on the $$ but once again RR training and your expertise

darn nice work

boogie · June 13, 2006

Harryb

I totally love your rookery pictures...your shots are superb.

I visited there 3 years ago with my Sony F717 (camera of choice at that time) and not as knowledgeable in post-processing as I am now.

So you have given me the urge to go back to my pictures and hopefully
reprocess some. This should be fun. If they are worthy I'll post them.

Thanks for giving me a photo project.

boogie

Harryb · June 13, 2006

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Well done Harry. Those birds up there must be a little slow. Everything is done and over down here. Keep an eye open for the storm a coming your way. :uhoh

Thanks Mike. The season at the rookery will probably last through this month.

The storm paid a visit yesterday and its looking real dreary today. Of course they started to redo my landscaping yesterday, what a mess. :uhoh

Harryb · June 13, 2006

raian wrote:

Simply beautiful! You are by far the master. I love these. The lighting and the focus is so crisp.

Thanks, I used my SB-800 on all these shots and the better beamer on the ones over 300mm. I'm getting more used to the flash now.

Harryb · June 13, 2006

raptorcaptor wrote:

Nice set! The tri-colored heron chicks seem to demand ones attention.

Thanks Glenn. The tri-color chicks demand so much attention that their parents hesitate when coming near the nest.

Harryb · June 13, 2006

davespics wrote:

Other than the subject matter, these pictures are so crisp, colors are wonderful. Was there a lot of post production? Really nice....

Thanks Dave.

I do very minimal post work on my wildlife shots. Most of my post work is done in Nikon Capture. I open the shot and apply a preset depending on the ISO range of the shot for sharpening. I will then adjust the contrast and at times enhance the colors. If the WB looks off I will adjust that. Then I send it to PS CS where I crop and apply a sight 'S' curve to give them some pop. If I have to do some noise reduction I will create a layer mask and apply the NR to the background only. I will almost never apply NR to the subject.

For me, the key to a good wildlife shot is nailing the exposure and WB when I take the shot. If I do that there's very little post work to be done, If there's a lot of post work needed the shot usually isn't worth the effort and ends up getting culled.

BigAl · June 14, 2006

Neat series Harry! That 2nd last one has to be the funniest I've seen for a while

Harryb · June 14, 2006

riddim_maker wrote:

That tricolor chick does seem to have something sinister behind those wide eyes: mommy's catch all for itself
The explanation really means a lot Harry, very much appreciated.
Oh! and did I say great captures, awesome as usual

Thanks Russ. Those tri-color chciks scare me. :uhoh

Osprey Whisperer · June 14, 2006

Harryb wrote:

they started to redo my landscaping yesterday,

Wow...what did you have to pay to have "The Tree" moved from Merritt to your backyard?

Good luck with that project. Habla'es Espanoles Seniores Gringoes ?

Harryb · June 14, 2006

Ric Grupe wrote:

:harry

:curtsey

Harryb · June 14, 2006

jwear wrote:

very nice MR H good use of the light and shadows not easy to get exposer on the $$ but once again RR training and your expertise darn nice work

Thanks Jeff. Before Ron's workshop there wasn't an egret around that I hadn't blew the highlights on.

Harryb · June 14, 2006

boogie wrote:

Harryb

I totally love your rookery pictures...your shots are superb.

I visited there 3 years ago with my Sony F717 (camera of choice at that time) and not as knowledgeable in post-processing as I am now.

So you have given me the urge to go back to my pictures and hopefully
reprocess some. This should be fun. If they are worthy I'll post them.

Thanks for giving me a photo project.

boogie

Thanks Andrea. I used to shoot wth the 717 too and it served me well.

The rookery in St. Augustine is a terrific place to shoot and has tons of photo ops. This season is just about over so if you're gonna shoot there this year you better make it soon. Good luck.

Harryb · June 14, 2006

BigAl wrote:

Neat series Harry! That 2nd last one has to be the funniest I've seen for a while

Thanks Al. I love shooting those tri-color chicks. They do put on a show.

Harryb · June 14, 2006

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Wow...what did you have to pay to have "The Tree" moved from Merritt to your backyard? Good luck with that project. Habla'es Espanoles Seniores Gringoes ?

I would never move THE TREE. I mean its a national monument, you know.

They managed to finish the landscaping this morning right before the storms blew in. We been having 3-4 periods of intense rain a day followed by a break in the clouds and some sun before the next rain comes in.

young ones

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