Winged Silhouette
Caught this Cattle Egret with a silhouette of his head visible though his wing with the early morning back lighting at High Island. It’s always one of my goals when shooting back-lit shots is to get this effect. I’ve gotten shots of Great Egrets doing this but this is a first for me with a Cattle Egret. Had a blast last Friday. It was a very nice change of pace to not have any clouds at sunrise.
One of my favorite photo’s of the year so far. More to come….
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.
1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
Incoming Snowy Egret
What did the Snowy Egret tell the Cattle Egret? Get the heck out of my way dude!!
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.
Cattle Egrets in Breeding Plumage from High Island
Cattle Egrets tend to be overlooked by birders and bird photographers, including myself. However, with breeding plumage on display and some decent early morning light, they can be quite beautiful. These shots were taken at the High Island, TX rookery on Friday. There are more cattle egrets at the rookery this year than I’ve ever seen. Since the Great Egret’s weren’t doing much, I focused on these little guys. The early morning light gave me some good back-lit photography opportunities.
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.
1/5000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering with +1 exposure compensation
1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering with +2/3 exposure compensation
1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering with +2/3 exposure compensation
1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering with +1/3 exposure compensation
High Island in a Blur
One of my favorite things to do at the High Island rookery is to get there early before the sun comes up and shoot blurred flight shots in silhouette. If you can handle the pre-dawn mosquitos, the flight shot opportunities with awesome colors are almost endless. It’s too early at that point to get sharp photos so I’ve learned to embrace the blur. About 1/2 hr before the sun comes up, the skies are filled with birds launching from far and wide. I typically use aperture priority, wide open, ISO 400 and +1 exposure compensation and let the camera set the shutter speed. I love the randomness of the shutter speeds that I get and the affect on the flight shots.
Here are a few Roseate Spoonbill’s in a blur from the rookery.
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.
1/40 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
1/13 sec @ F5.6, ISO 500, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
1/20 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering
Tim Timmis Photography 