We were at Spring Lake Park yesterday morning with our friends Suzanne and Sid Johnson, who drove in from Eldorado. As we drove slowly by this little lagoon, I spotted a Great Blue Heron wading along, searching the water for prey. I had my camera on my lap and decided to get a photograph. Just as I got the camera to my eye, I saw him tense, and I knew he was going to fly. I immediately pressed the shutter and held it at approximately 8 frames per sec and got a series of photos. Here are three of the resulting images.
The EXIF exposure data for these images is as follows:
- Canon EOS 7D
- Canon 100-400mm lens – hand-held
- 1/2500 sec. @ f5.6 – minus 1/3 EV
- ISO 400
- Lens focal distance – 260mm
- Shutter priority
- Partial metering
I might mention one of my habits. I prefer to adjust my EV by minus -1/3 most of the time, as I like how that slight under-exposure renders the tonal values. Of course, if the whites are still extra bright, I go another 1/3. And then, of course, there are my “senior moments” where I have forgotten to make the proper EV adjustments and have had to correct in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. I use both, depending on……….heck, I don’t know. I just do this stuff by feel, meaning I use whatever I feel like at the time. 🙂
It really makes me chuckle. My work flow is so confusing and maybe “cluttered”, I sometimes wonder how I manage to produce the good work that I do. If two people asked me how I did something, I would probably give two different answers. But, for me, the fun is getting the job done with a great result, not how I accomplished it. 🙂
So, I hope you enjoyed the above images. You can click on any of them to see some enlargements. You can still vote for me at this link, People’s Choice Award. I appreciate your votes.
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 