Birds in Nature - images of wild birds by Richard Ditch

Subject: Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Place: Bosque del Apache NWR, NM, USA
Date: December 1999
Equipment: Nikon N90S, Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8 & TC20E (= 600/5.6), car window
Film: Kodak E200 rated at 320 and pushed one stop
Exposure: Aperture priority matrix metered
Scan: Minolta Dimage; 90% of image

Commentary: Most of the heron images we see posted come from warm sunny Florida, so I thought this winter shot from New Mexico would make an interesting contrast. The day started in the teens (F), with wonderful frost and ground fog everywhere. This heron didn't seem especially happy with the temperature. The frosted marsh grass is an important part of this image for me, and I've gone with a horizontal composition instead of a vertical version that has the heron's reflection because it includes more of the frost.

At the time I was trying E200 film - something that was supposed to give excellent results with a one stop push. Although the speed was very nice, the image quality was not, and the slides are extremely hard to scan. This is the first scan of it I am pleased with.