![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/great-blue-heron-6487-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-blue-heron-6487-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI was mostly unprepared for this unexpected opportunity yesterday afternoon but thankfully I had my backup camera gear with me.<\/p>\n
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1\/400, f\/5.6, ISO 320, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n While I was running around the valley doing some chores in a snowstorm I came across this Great Blue Heron perched on a fallen snag over a pond. Of course I didn’t have my usual bird photography gear with me, including my 500mm lens, but I always carry my backup 7D Mark II attached to my smaller zoom lens in my pickup so I used that combo to take advantage of the opportunity as best I could.<\/p>\n Because of vegetation growing on the edges of the pond this is the only angle I could get on the heron and in my view it has both advantages and disadvantages. Often I’m not fond of looking at my subject from behind but this view gives us an interesting look at the dorsal feather detail and I like the sweeping composition as the bird looks in the direction of the snag disappearing at the far left frame edge. At this angle the entire snag is sharp and I think it would have weakened the image significantly if some of it had been soft. The part of the snag that intersects the midsection of the bird may not be ideal but nature is what it is and I can’t do anything about it short of cloning it out. And that just isn’t going to happen.<\/p>\n In my view the unexpected bonus of the low light conditions in the storm is the falling snow that is so apparent against the dark background. More often than not when I photograph birds in snow the falling flakes are invisible or nearly so because the background is so light the snow can’t be seen well. But in this case reflections of trees and other vegetation at the far side of the pond made the water dark enough to really highlight the falling snow. I think that snow made the difference between a ho-hum image and one that is quite interesting.<\/p>\n I like the pensive, almost forlorn mood of the image as the heron looks out over the landscape and seems to contemplate its dismal situation in the dark and stormy conditions.<\/p>\n Note to bird photographers: It pays to have photo gear with us at all times!<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – Late yesterday afternoon and last night I began receiving multiple requests for the recipe for the cheese manicotti I talked about in yesterday’s post. It seems that the most efficient way to provide it to anyone who might want it and not force it on everyone else is to publish the recipe in a separate post which I hope to do later this morning or this afternoon at the latest. I think it’s too long and too much out of context to include here.<\/em><\/p>\n I don’t want to turn Feathered Photography into a clone of Martha Stewart’s website but one time shouldn’t hurt…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Blog subscribers will of course receive an email with the link to that second post and once it’s published I’ll add a link to it at the bottom of this post.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n