The last two weeks around my area have been really slow for wildlife photography. For some reason the birds aren’t where they would normally be, and I believe it has a lot to do with the lack of rain this year. I can’t find more than 2 wood ducks in any of my normal spots and usually at this time of year they are feasting on acorns. But not this year. The only bird that has been fairly easy to find lately has been the Great Blue Heron. And I already have a zillion pics of these guys. I don’t need more GBH pics. But that is what I was faced with yesterday when I was out shooting. Lindsay Parsons was very slow so I drove up to Ithaca and hit some spots I don’t normally get to but once or twice a year. First stop was Stewart Park right in Ithaca. Right away I ran into a small flock of Common Mergansers feeding in a large pool in the park. I spent a good amount of time watching them, hoping they would get closer so I would have a chance to get a good image. They never made it that close but I was able to get a tolerable image out of it.
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Hangin’ at the pool….
Then they wandered off so I was about to leave myself when a GBH landed on a log out in the same pool where the mergansers were. At first I thought “oh great, another GBH!!!” Just what I needed!
But then I decided that I should just stay and see if I could get something different than the GBH pics I already had. Now the bird sure isn’t going to change, at least at this time of year. But if I could get a little creative with the backgrounds maybe the bird would help me out by doing something different. So I started shooting, hoping for some divine inspiration. But the sun was starting to peek through the foliage and it was getting pretty intense. And that is when I decided to try and use the brighter sun to my advantage. So I started breaking one of those general rules of exposure. You know, the one that says your background shouldn’t be a lot brighter that your subject. And there is a good reason for that rule. Usually if your background is considerably brighter that your subject then your subject will be underexposed. So you have to try and walk a fine line and get the birds bright enough without totally blowing out your background.
So I’m moving around trying to find something different for the background without scaring the bird away. I figure the birds at this park see enough humans so that they may not be so skittish.
I call these last two “variations on a theme”
This bird above is actually a very nicely colored bird. His shoulder epaulets are big and bold and his overall coloring is strong. I’m starting to warm up to this guy. (or girl)
I was hoping for a fish or two but this guy seemed to think his personal hygiene was more important!
Slacker…..
I’m sure there are some that will say that this background above is too busy but I kinda like it!
And I seriously considered cropping this one right at the waterline but I left it alone so you could judge for yourself.
So do I think that any of them will end up in Nat Geo? Nope, not a snowball’s chance in Hell! But there’s a couple that might make it into my gallery. And it was a good lesson for me to have to really work to get the shots. I hope you like!!! As always, I am happy to hear what you think about them!!!