When it started to rain yesterday, I pulled out my umbrella and kept shooting for a while, permitting me to get this close-up shot of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias).
The heron was stoically enduring the rainfall, as drops of water began to bead up on its shoulders. The wind started to kick up a little too, ruffling some of the feathers on the heron’s chest. I was afraid that my white and green umbrella would spook the heron, but I was able to get pretty close to the heron to get this shot at the far end of my 55-250mm zoom lens. If you click on the photo, you can see these (and other) details in a higher resolution image.
There are many flowers blooming in my local marshland park right now and I really like the little splashes of yellow in the background of this image.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Just superb!!!!
He let you get close up to take the photograph but he seems a bit grumpy about it. Great shot.
The detail is amazing, love the expression you captured.
What a fantastic shot and angle
That’s pretty much what I do when it rains.
You do motivate me with the umbrella idea. How do you manage to juggle the camera and the umbrella together?
This only works with light rain when there is no wind. I hold the umbrella in my left hand and hold the camera in my right hand, balancing it against the shaft of the umbrella as possible. I usually use a relatively light zoom lens with image stabilization (normally my 55-250mm) and try to keep the shutter speed and ISO pretty high, depending on the light.