Kathy Buckard
November 2023 - Egret and Young
About the Image(s)
Image taken in April 2012 at the Alligator Farm in Saint Augustine, Florida. We visit the rookery every April as we know there will be plenty of young birds nesting over the boardwalk area. Every year the area seems to expand, more and more birds because it is such a protected area. Usually, there is a Birding Festival held the last week of April in Saint Augustine and they also visit the Alligator Farm. It is a great place to get images of nesting birds, baby birds, flying birds, etc.
Image taken at 8:11 am with a Nikon D300, Manual, F8 and speed of 1/250 of a second.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted
Kathy, the Alligator Farm in St Augustin - Florida is a photographers paradise. Specially from January to April every year when the rockery is full of nests with eggs and newborn chicks, like your image. Of course, it is tricky to photograph them since the nests are above the boardwalk, wit exceptions as your image illustrates. It is very sharp, and the background (water) is uniform, with the exception of the white areas which are distracting, but there is nothing we can do about. Some purists would say why you did not use a polarizer filter to reduce the reflection/highlights in the water. Posted: 11/02/2023 11:42:09
Kathy, a wonderful shot, and good story. It feels a bit tight on the right especially, but you probably got rid of distractions. The neck gets a bit lost and you might be able to get more separation from contrast, clarity, or a bit dehaze. Sharp and beautiful. Posted: 11/02/2023 13:34:25
Thank you for your comments. This is definitely a fun place to capture birds. Posted: 11/03/2023 16:40:10
Kathy, Beautiful image! I love the story, composition and the details in the feathers of both the adult and the baby. Love it!
When I visited India in Feb 2020 I had the opportunity to take a boat ride around a small island in a lake. This island was filled with egrets and cormorants nesting but the babies were yet to be born. Now I know I can just travel to St. Augustine from January to April. Posted: 11/02/2023 15:47:25
When I visited India in Feb 2020 I had the opportunity to take a boat ride around a small island in a lake. This island was filled with egrets and cormorants nesting but the babies were yet to be born. Now I know I can just travel to St. Augustine from January to April. Posted: 11/02/2023 15:47:25
Saint Augustine is a great place in the spring to find many birds with chicks to photograph. There are so many, sometimes it is hard to get clear shots without getting branches or parts of another birds. It is a challenge that we love to come back to year after year. Posted: 11/03/2023 16:44:34
Kathy, I am so impressed with this photo. I love the details and the story between parent and chick. I think you have detail in the neck of the adult but the whites are blown. In Photoshop Camera Raw Filter, select subject, subject mask - I increased the texture, clarity and dehaze to get this separation between neck and body. Let me know what you think. Jim Posted: 11/03/2023 10:28:05
Jim, I like what you did. I do not do too much editing. Only use Photo Shop Elements and am still learning how to make some of those adjustments. Do not shoot in raw, but I believe I did use a feature to dehaze some, maybe not enough. Posted: 11/03/2023 16:48:41
Kathy, the ACR in Lightroom or Camera Raw in Photoshop also works on .jpg images. The feature is listed under the tab for "Filters" and it has lots of sliders that fine tune basic operations of contrast, curves, saturation. I hope you have it and will check it out. Jim Posted: 11/04/2023 15:26:33