About the Image(s)

Arka Rika
(Almost as good as Costa Rica!)

This is a cattle egret peacefully flying over the water near a rookery in a local wildlife management area. So peaceful - until thousands of birds begin their day at first light. Then it gets noisy!

Nikon Z7ii with Nikon Z 800mm
800mm, f/6.3, 1/1000, ISO 8000

Minor color and lighting changes. In a rare use of the “dehaze” tool in Light Room, I actually ADDED some haze above the water. At sunrise there was a light layer of haze that was suppressed with the lighting changes I wanted to accentuate above the water. The crop was done to get rid of a headless bird and make the scene more intimate with the one flying egret.

(I just wish one of the alligators were visible in the water … yep, the gators were active too!)

I’m really wondering if I got the capture too dark. Did I go too far to keep the dark pre-sunrise lighting?