A long stretch of work lies behind me (11 days) and all what I wanted to do this weekend is go out into nature and create some images. I went to one of my favorite places in the area, the Green Island Wetlands along the Mississippi. I have never been disappointed there.
The duck hunting season is in full swing, which means parts of the wetlands are not really usable for bird photography at the moment. Other parts are not open for hunting and that's where I kept my eyes open in particular. You can't really miss the Great Egrets. They haven't migrated to the south yet and were stalking in the shallow water and hunting for fish.
- Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3
I faced two different back-light situations. In the first image the sun light was reflected from the surface of the water and created a kind of moiré pattern. The reflections are not really good if you try to focus on a white bird but I like the gesture of the egret ruffling its feathers. I tried to keep the balance between overexposure of the water and making the bird to dark. Flash wasn't an option because of the distance.
- Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3
In the second image I still had a back-light situation and had to make sure that the feathers of the egret didn't get blown out completely. The refections are more subtle and I like how the reeds and another egret outside of the frame are reflected on the dark surface of the water. As I already said, I have never been disappointed at this place...