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Here is a "lucky" photo I took of a White Egret preparing to land in a large tree a couple miles from where I live. Actually, the tree is a well-known nesting spot for both White Egrets and Great Blue Herons. I would estimate there are about 15 nesting pairs and the tree is located in a large creek area between two shopping centers. Fortunately, there is enough space between the tree and civilization, aided by a flowing small river tributary on both sides with a lot of brush as well. Besides, everybody knows about the spot and because of that, there are many that follow the bird's progress during the nesting season. If anyone is seen around the tree they probably would get yelled at or someone might call the cops on them. It's also just down the street from a large senior citizen development that is connected to one of the shopping centers by a walking/golf cart asphalt trail. When I set up my tripod to take some photos a number of seniors stopped by to engage in small talk about the birds, in other words, they are frequently watched over by the locals.
I took the image with a Canon T4i, Canon 400m f/5.6L, and Canon 1.4x extender. When I downloaded the raw image I saw the tree limbs were just starting to bud. Later on, I experimented with different filters and settled on monochrome because it made the combination of the Egret and budding tree appear to have an Asian look, at least that was my take.
One of my favorite photos. It does look like a Chinese or Japanese painting. hope you entered it in some photo contests as I earlier suggested.
My friend Terry, who posts bird photos here, uses the 5.6/400L as his "walk & stalk" lens. I think it is Canon's best bargain in telephoto lenses and an excellent choice for taking photos of wildlife while on foot.
Thanks Bill. I took another "lucky" photo about three years ago of a Great Blue Heron that I wish I could find. I happened to be walking around a creek area that eventually flows by the nesting tree when I spotted the bird hunting nearby. Since he was in the aforementioned senior community complex, he was tolerant of my presence. I didn't want to spook him so I maintained my distance and took a photo from what I recall with a Canon T3 and 24-105 f/4L lens. I think it might be on my old desktop, so I'll look for it this weekend. In regards to the Sac Wildlife Refuge photos, apparently, I deleted them and that was after spending some considerable time tweaking the images, dang! However, I'll retrieve some from the camera and get those going as well.
Your friend Terry has a knack for taking sharp images with his 400L prime lens. My ratio of out of focus shots is much more than in focus shots. I'll either have to increase my dosage of beta blockers or get out more and practice, lol. He is one of my primary reasons for not selling the lens and replacing it with the 100-400 tele with IS. From what I have read, the 400L has an excellent reputation for taking sharp photos, as long as the person behind the camera knows how to use it.
What I have done to help improve my chances of catching a good photo of a moving subject is to use continuous mode. This is really new territory for me, I give you credit for increasing my interest in bird photography and it helps that I have always been an advocate of wildlife conservation.
I decided to reduce the size of the White Egret photo in Paint. The original Jpg was bordering on pixelating in my opinion so I shrunk it down and reposted as a png. It was nice to see the website accepted the file and also allowed me to edit it later. I think I could have gone smaller, but I didn't want a postage stamp photo either.
When you mentioned before I should enter the photo in a contest I actually did earlier this year in the annual Audubon photography contest. I did it just for laughs.
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