billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Wakodahatchee Wetlands.
Sony a1, Sony 600 f4 @ f4, 1/3200 sec. iso 640. Manual exposure was taken from green trees that were hit by the sun the same as the Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Green grass and foliage reflect just about the same % of light as a gray card. So it is sorta like taking a gray card every where you go.
I did not stop down any further because of the dark colors of the Heron, if I had been exposing for a White Egret, I would have stopped down two to three stops to retain feather detail.
I like to shoot my 600 wide open, it tends to be sharp corner to corner at f4 and or course helps to eliminate back group clutter.
Thanks for viewing.
Right now things at Wakodahatchee are really popping. Middle of March, April and May are always good months to visit.

Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

Nice light and love the composition!

NMGal Loc: NE NM

Turned out great.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Good to see - I have never seen a YCNH at Wako ! ......thanks for sharing

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

A fine portrait, Bill.

lukevaliant Loc: gloucester city,n. j.

great shot and info,i always have hard time with the great egrets(white blown out) i will try your method!

joemcl1

Bill
A fine portrait and thanks for the discussion on exposure. Are you using a tripod with the 600mm?

pumakat

Spectacular!

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

No, I have moved away from tripods as in Wakodahatchee and Green Cay a tripod can slow you down and make quick shots difficult. By the time you reset a tripod you miss a lot of action and that magic moment is gone.
The Sony 600 weighs about 6 1/2 lbs. but is center weighted, so hand holding is very possible. Sony has IBIS in the body and lens so hand holding a long lens is very stable. I only bring up the lens for the shot, otherwise it is held resting against my body. I attach the vertical grip with rides on my shoulder blade making carrying the lens tightly to my body effortless. And if I need to hold the lens for any length of time my left hand is just behind the lens hood which really stead's the lens.
I used to shoot a Nikon 600 f4 DSLR lenses that weighed about twice what the Sony does, so for me it seems like the Sony 600 is no issue. Holding technique is very important and so is proper breathing. I used to shoot skeet and stationary targets with rifles and shotguns, the techniques are very similar.
So, yes, I hand hold all of my longs. To be honest the Sony 200-600 lens feels heavier to me than the 600 f4.
The only issue comes when I am tracking something very fast like a Black necked Stilt. That's where it is sometimes better to have a long zoom, you can pick up the bird a lot quicker at 200mm than at 600mm, then once I have it at 200 with the 200-600 I can just zoom out to fill the frame with the bird.
Sorry for being long winded. I sometimes get too wordy.
Thanks for the question.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Beauty Bill & thanks for always post the shooting info. Clean corner to corner at f4= get what you pay for in most cases.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Fantastic image!!!

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

👍👍

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

This is a lovely shot. Great posture, lovely light, and good background. What bugs me a bit however is the upright vegetation in the background. Perhaps if you had moved a bit to your right? Still, top notch bird photography here.

Yes, I agree, Sony's 600 prime can be hand held and compared to the 200-600 can create some wonderful backgrounds. I just wish however that Sony's stabilization system was a bit better.

As always, love looking at your posts.

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

Great capture. I like the lighting

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL