Birds in Nature - images of wild birds by Richard Ditch

Subject: Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Place: Bosque del Apache NWR, NM, USA
Date: November 1998
Equipment: Nikon N90S, Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8 & TC14E (= 420/4), car window
Film: Fujichrome Sensia II 100
Exposure: Aperture priority matrix metered
Scan: Minolta Dimage DS2; 100% of image

Commentary: This is more of a habitat shot with a bird as a compositional accent than a bird portrait. I like the mood of this shot, and think it conveys a feeling of late fall. I like the warm tone, the bare trees, and the soft sky colors. It suffers from the small scale required for web posting as do a lot of my "bird in habitat" shots. There is good detail and sharpness in the heron that get lost when reduced to this size. I also like the delicate tracings of the branches on the left side. I suspect many would like the bird more to the left leaving more room in front than in back.