Heron in the rain

Feeds:: Posts; Comments

Heron in the rain

November 23, 2013 by Mike Powell

The light was fading in the late afternoon yesterday and it was starting to rain when I came across a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), one of my favorite birds. The conditions were less than ideal, but I was determined to try to get a shot.

I managed to open my umbrella without startling the heron, a minor miracle, given that my umbrella is green and white. Knowing that I was going to have to shoot one-handed (with a small amount of balancing help from the hand holding the umbrella), I decided I was going to have to crank up the ISO of the camera higher than I had ever gone before—to ISO 1600.

I like the image that I got, though unsurprisingly it was a bit grainy. Fortunately, my software was able to reduce thee noise a little.

So now you know of at least two things that you can find out in the open when it is raining—blue herons and crazy photographers.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Great Blue Heron, heron, Huntley Meadows Park | 7 Comments

7 Responses

on November 23, 2013 at 4:52 pm | Reply Victor Rakmil

I have avoided the rain, maybe I shouldn’t 🙂
- on November 23, 2013 at 7:41 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I will sometimes shoot when it’s only a light rain, but will give up as soon as the rain gets heavy or the wind starts to blow.
on November 23, 2013 at 7:01 pm | Reply nliakos

Great picture! And I enjoyed the story that went with it. This heron looks amazingly BLUE. The ones I see always look gray, but here one can really understand why they are called blue herons.
- on November 23, 2013 at 7:40 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I think this was a really young one (at least it was really small). Maybe that’s why it looks so blue.
on November 24, 2013 at 12:19 am | Reply Lyle Krahn

Isn’t it fun to push yourself to new frontiers – go to an ISO you’ve never used before? I have to keep reminding myself to keep testing those bounds too since it can get me results not possible otherwise. Or I learn.
on November 24, 2013 at 8:45 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

That’s an excellent shot for ISO 1600.
- on November 24, 2013 at 1:45 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  My previous DLSR (a Canon Rebel XT) would not have been able to produce this image. My slightly more modern Canon 50D handles low light a lot better.