The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) was mostly in the shadows yesterday as I observed him at the edge of a small stream. When he bent down, his face was briefly illuminated and I managed to capture this action portrait with a fascinating interplay of light and darkness.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Wonderful photo Mike – looks fantastic full screen.
Thanks. When I saw it on the back of my camera, I thought it was pretty good so I barely touched it in post-processing.
Wow! If Rembrandt had a camera…
Thanks, Joe. It’s funny that you would mention Rembrandt, because that’s exactly what I thought when I first saw the image on the back of the screen. Mixed lighting like that is a challenge, but it worked this time, thanks in part to the fact that I was using spot metering.
I love shots with dark backgrounds and this one is excellent. Hard to get though, I’m sure.
Thanks, Allen. I got lucky, plus I happened to be using spot metering which may have darkened the background a bit in getting the correct exposure for the little heron.
Excellent shot, Mike, although this heron seems to have a bad hair day! 🙂
Phenominal capture and image, especially viewed full size on the computer screen. Nice. M 🙂
Thanks. I took a series of shots and most of the ones before this one had the heron almost totally in the shadows. Unwittingly the heron cooperated to make this such a cool shot when he bent forward, bringing his head into the light.
AWESOME!
What an amazing creature. I love to see them fly! Great job, Mike!
Thanks, Lucy. This is definitely one of my favorite shots that I have taken.
I’m really partial to green herons, and this wonderfully illuminated pose is just right!!
Thanks. The light and the tilted head pose makes this shot stand out (though I love almost any shot of a green heron).