Great Blue Heron on a wet day

Great Blue Heron on Kearny Lake dock

Even here in the AZ desert the Great Blue Heron is a widespread species. Since it is such a common bird with a large range in the U.S. it gets photographed a lot, even by me. So, I’m always trying to get something different to increase the diversity of my collection. When this bird landed on the dock in the rain and took up a characteristic stance I couldn’t pass it by.

I’ve based the composition on the contrasting “Warm” and “cold” tones of the browns and blue-grays. I’ve “placed” the heron left of center to put more open space on the right – the direction in which the heron is looking. I’ve leveled the image based on the lines in the water’s surface, which also makes the guano at the end of the dock vertical; this retains the slight inclination of the dock just as it appeared at the time of the photo.

This image falls into my typical understated style with muted tones and a hint of habitat in the background reeds. The dock adds texture and a graphic element. But the heron still dominates the frame with the feather texture enhanced by their wetness.

Nikon D200, AF-S 300/2.8 and TC20E (2x), ISO 400, 1/125th @ f/8, Kearny Lake, AZ, 01/04/09

Cottonwood Reflections

Crossed Cottonwoods - Gilbert Water Ranch

As promised with my introductory post, here’s an image that isn’t of a bird! But it was taken at the Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ, where I do a lot of my bird photography so it was taken with my primary bird lens: a 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor on my Nikon D200 camera. I use this with the Nikon TC20E 2x converter for birds, and since I hike around for a couple of hours and a couple of miles at a time I seldom take any other lens with me.

I’ve looked at these trees on every visit, but almost always from the other side. On this particular morning I’d taken a different trail that put me on the other side of the this pond at the perfect time to catch a nice reflection of the cottonwoods. I could barely fit the tree trunks and their reflections in the frame with the 300.

Before my life was completely consumed by the search for birds I did a lot of black-and-white photography, and for my B&W I always looked for strong graphics. I still fall back on that style when I’m shooting today, but I seldom get a chance to incorporate it into my avian photos. I see no other choice but a formal composition here, so both trees are given equal weight in the image, just like the reflection and the trees are given equal weight.

Nikon D200, AF-S 300/2.8, tripod, ISO 100, 1/125th @ f/8, 12/11/07