birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

It's always about the light! That's a statement that is true of photography in general and especially about wildlife photography. I often forego taking pictures of birds in the mid day sun because of the harsh shadows and the washed out colors. I was at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, in Delaware, earlier this week and as the sun was getting lower in the sky in the late afternoon, I came upon a flock of Laughing Gulls and about a half dozen Snowy Egrets that were feeding in the outflow of a sluiceway connecting an impoundment area with the bay beyond.

By moving very slowly and carefully, I was able to move all the way up to a chain link fence that kept people from falling into the defile that formed the sluiceway. The sun was streaming into that narrow area shining directly on the Egrets who ignored me and kept on feeding. A flock of about 50 Gulls were also trying to feed and hoping that the Egrets would be careless and drop something for them to steal.

Eventually, as the sun got lower and lower, an Immature Black-crowned Night Heron came in to feed. The sun was like a spotlight right on the birds head. shortly after, the shadows filled the area and I lost my light.

I used the fence as a steady rest. I was shooting the Canon 7d with my 100-400mm lens at 200mm, F/8, 1/2000, ISO 800.

I hope you enjoy them!

Yay! I caught one!


Beat Ya to it!


Hey! That's mine!


Woo Hoo! I'm Baaaaad!


Too much competition here!


Ya gonna eat that?


Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron in a beam of light

globetrekker Loc: Bend, OR

Truly amaaaaazing shots! Technical know-how + great light = magic!

gregoryd45 Loc: Fakahatchee Strand

Great shots birdpix, you captured the snowy perfectly, looks to be in breeding plumage, nice feathery plumes

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

I don't think that is breeding plumage but simply an aggressive display to keep the gulls at bay by looking larger.

gregoryd45 Loc: Fakahatchee Strand

I see the raised hair on the head as being an aggressive look, but I never see the feathery tail plumes like that, until they are going into breeding plumage, at least not here in Fl, love the shots

jrb1213 Loc: McDonough GEorgia

I can see I have a lot more to learn to be able to get images like this but the results are worth it. Amwesome set.

oldmalky Loc: West Midlands,England.

Bad health forces me to forgo photography but i can certainly enjoy what you have to offer, how much pp do you need to do or is it sufficient straight from the camera.

Thanks for the great set

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Since I shoot raw, I always do some post processing. this includes setting the white and black point, occasional adjustments to highlights and shadows, saturation, sharpening and noise reduction. Basically these are the things that would be done in camera if one shot JPEG. and, of course, I crop. This series, because of the extreme contrast required a bit more fussing with the highlights and shadows and contrast.

vicksart Loc: Novato, CA -earthquake country

Thanks so much for sharing these photos along with the narrative. I always find your tips very helpful and hope to one day get something half as good. These are superb.