Jennifer Marano
May 2025 - Great Egret
About the Image(s)
I went with a friend to check out the nesting trees in Santa Rosa ??“ two giant eucalyptus with scores of egrets and night herons, right in town. The season is almost over and chicks are quite large and mostly fledged, but some are still begging for food. This lone Great Egret caught my eye, mostly because he/she was staying put for long enough to be photographed.
Technical: ISO 500, 253 mm, f 6.3, 1/2000 sec, OM 1 Mark 2 camera, processed in Lightroom and Silver Effects Pro.
8 comments posted
Tack sharp eye - I love the lighting. Not sure what direction the light was coming from - but it creates a great rim effect on both sides of the neck/head. That lighting makes the shot! The B&W works. I wish he (or she) was doing something interesting . . . but that's not something you can control! Posted: 05/08/2025 10:03:16
Thanks Steven! Yes, I wish I could have caught some of the more interesting behaviors but still get a sharp and well lit bird, but I will have to work on my bird photo skills! Posted: 05/08/2025 14:48:04
The light is good! The bird is shap! The bird is well-exposed despite the light being behind (?) it. I do think the sky is darkened a bit too much in your black and white conversion, and I understand why you did that, it just makes it seem ever so slightly artificial. Maybe try backing off on that and use a vignette instead? Posted: 05/08/2025 11:41:40
Thanks for the good suggestion Will! I will certainly experiment with vignette vs darker sky. Posted: 05/08/2025 14:50:50
Great image! The white bird with the rim light effect really stands out. The B&W version for this is perfect. The overall sharpness, especially the eye is very good. Overall a very good wildlife photo. Thanks for sharing this! Posted: 05/08/2025 13:05:27
Thanks Dale! I was very fortunate that the bird picked a good spot to land. Posted: 05/08/2025 14:52:27
Jennifer, another wonderful image. I can't add to anything that everyone else has said. The rim lighting around the egret really does make the image. Beautiful capture.
Posted: 05/08/2025 18:39:42
Posted: 05/08/2025 18:39:42
Thank you Cindy! Posted: 05/08/2025 18:40:54