Playing with the Sun

My favorite part of wildlife photography is playing with the light. In this case, I was playing with the sun.

This is a great egret at High Island TX rookery. Got there well before sunrise and was taking silhouette photos before the sun came up. Kept track of where the sun was going to rise to optimize my chances of playing with the sun and one of the egrets. This one cooperated while standing in some branches. She moved to the right and displayed her breeding plumage just at the right time.

Taken with Canon 1DX III with 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head.

1/3200 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation, 500mm

1/8000 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, -1 exposure compensation, 500mm

1/8000 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, no exposure compensation, 500mm