I love my wife! She works hard for my family and is my best friend. And she knows me very well. Tonight after church she knew I had few opportunities this week to shoot. So guess where I went? My favorite spot minutes from my home. It’s a good thing because church gets out late. With only a little time to shoot I was very fortunate to get a couple of shots. The photograph above is my proof that the sun came out just before it set. The late day light is reflecting off the water. No adjustments or filters. Right out of the camera – beautiful.
This shot of the Great Blue Heron was just as the sun set. I shot this through my 600mm lens and the D200. The low light required an ISO of 1000. You may ask why I did not use the D3 and it’s incredible resolution at high ISO? The D200 sensor creates a crop that makes the 600mm effectively 840mm. The birds were way out there tonight and I needed the reach. I can only imagine the resolution of this shot if it had been done with the D3.
There is no question that I wish the light was better and this shot was taken with the D3. I love the position of the Heron. Just landing his feathers look really in disarray. Both shots of the Herons were ran though Nik color Efex pro filter. I used the brush tool to fill the whole shot then erased back the Heron at 30% opacity.