The Getaway Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

On Saturday I visited the Marievale bird sanctuary near a town called Springs. I went with Callie de Wet (cdewet) and it was a great experience. Once again I learnt a lot from him.

We saw this Heron just as we approached one of the hides. Therefore we knew that there was something behind the window openings when we entered the hide, and were ready with our cameras when we opened them. The Heron started walking away as soon as we started shooting, and this is the first shot I got of it and the only one I felt I could use.

Callie posted the same bird on Saturday. This is my humble version, showing the bird in a different pose.

Common (Squacco) Heron (Ardeola ralloides) 40-46cm: The smallest white heron in Southern Africa. Its habitat is vegetated margins of freshwater lakes, pans and slow-moving rivers. It skulks in long grass, sitting motionless for long periods. It call is a low-pitched, rattling
'kek-kek-kek'.

This shot was taken at 500mm, at ISO 200 with exposure compensation of -0.7EV. I was using aperture priority at the time, with fill-in flash and AF-C (continuous) focus mode.

nwoehnl, Galeota, milloup, Jaap, cool_s15, jhonny_blue, jhm, sunny, Rinie_Hoff, avigur_11 has marked this note useful

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olli (2091) 2004-05-31 2:34

Another great bird shot, Henry. Excellent simplicity in bird, branch and background. The blur in its foot is a great addition. I like the combination of yellow and blue tones. Also technically very good shot.

manny (21378) 2004-05-31 2:43

What a color! This is simply marvelous as it stands out against the moody blue. Very good contrast. A very good shot.

RobBrown (1789) 2004-05-31 2:46

Good picture full of potential action with the slight blurr of the moving leg, a bird going places.
As good as Callies picture Henry and one cannt I feel say better of a picture. one tiny nit there is what must be 2 reeds in the forground well out of focus but your eye does go to it, should clone out without too much trouble, but as I say it is so minnor as not to realy count, thanks for sharring.

cdewet (0) 2004-05-31 3:15

Henry
This is tops, You caught him in a beautiful stance, with that blurred foot showing motion. I will post another shot tonight of him walking down this "branch" as well. It was great shooting together.

nwoehnl (120) 2004-05-31 3:54

Callie's postings had already made me curious to see some of your shots, Henry. And this is an amazing one for a start - it excels in contrast and detail on the bird, the light is very good, and the posture of him walking with the blurred leg is what makes this one for me. The simplicity of the surroundings (the branch, the sky) helps to fully direct attention to the beautiful subject here. Well done.

yesterday (9787) 2004-05-31 4:18

I like the sharp bird, and the nice pose it do fore you. Excellent compoced, excellent color and beautiful light.
There is somting in the photo I found as a bit shame.
The yellow coloring stripe under the lifting food?, there is a bit of in the lower right corner to.

Galeota (10334) 2004-05-31 4:40

The golden feathers against the blue sky come out great. Excellent sharp photo, with a simple but very effective composition. He seems to be walking into the frame. I like it.

milloup (1829) 2004-05-31 4:46

Sweet light you had for your visit with this chap ;-) Great feather and head details. I like the static pose of the bird broken only by the movement of the foot.

Jaap (0) 2004-05-31 5:18

Great shot you got with the bird walking away. What strikes me is that, although there must have been quit a distance between the bird and the hide you and Callie were in, there is still that little shimmer of the flash visible in the birds eye. That's very well done. Is this also the reason, as Callie did not have time to attach his flash, that his photo came out darker? Or is the effect of a flash over that longer distance not that great?

cool_s15 (4048) 2004-05-31 5:28

Wonderful shot, Henry! Nice colors and details.
Also the little moving part looks great. What is the thing at the bottom? something looks like a flare. Anyway a great shot!

jhonny_blue (4954) 2004-05-31 5:32

Wonderful picture Henrye !
It´s beautiful and very sharp picture.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

jhm (83378) 2004-05-31 6:11

Waw...Henry this is great, you and Callie are both great photograhers, I like of your pictures, the bird with twoo legs! Excellent great work Henry!
Zeer mooi en prachtig Henri!

sunny (3068) 2004-05-31 9:25

Wow! Such a golden beauty, Henry! :-) Wonderful details of the bird's body, fantastic light and great textures. Very well done!

Rinie_Hoff (9334) 2004-05-31 16:21

Hi Henry, funny to see your shot too, I guess you enjioyed your hnut with callie, So far, your results are great. Very nice colors and great sharpness and DoF. Very good, and I learn a lot about birds from you guys.

avigur_11 (21307) 2004-05-31 16:24

I think that I saw this bird somewhere, Henry ;-0
It looks like a wire-walk. Fantastic shot, this heron looks so human. Amazing colors and and interesting pose. Good shot.

Photo Information

Copyright: Henry Engelbrecht (henrye) (3498)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2004-05-29
Categories: Nature
Camera: Nikon D100, Sigma 50-500 F4-6.3, Digital JPEG, UV
Exposure: f/13.0, 1/180 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes (Fill) Flash: Yes
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): The birds from Marievale Bird Sanctuary, Twins? [Part III] [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2004-05-31 2:27