Great Egret, Green Island Preserve, Mississippi Valley, Eastern Iowa
When I left home for the wetlands today I knew already that a thunderstorm would cross the area this afternoon. Later we had even a tornado warning but finally the thunderstorm and rain came with moderate wind and not much lightning. During the storm very few critters are visible but nothing seemed to bother the Great Egrets. Three of them perched on some trees above the water surface in one of the lakes of the Green Island Wildlife Area. If I wanted to tell a story about the bird, braving these weather conditions, the rain had to be visible. Usually this can be done by slowing down the exposure time and with a dark background, which highlights the falling rain. The wooded banks of the Mississippi Valley are perfect for such a backdrop. The rain came finally down so hard, it wasn’t really necessary to shoot with a slow shutter speed. This photo was made at 1/640 s, ISO 800, fast enough for a sharp image at 600 mm focal length and still rendering blurred rain across the image.