These Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) photos were taken of the same bird, photographed at same location on the same day. I saw some Great Blue Herons today while out photographing birds and they inspired this post.
Great Blue Heron with sand in the background
D200, HH, f6.3, 1/1500, ISO 200, 80-400mm at 400mm, natural light
Great Blue Heron with sky background
D200, HH, f6.3, 1/1250, ISO 200, 80-400mm at 250mm, natural light
When I created the photo with the sand in the background I was laying down on a small sand dune and took the photo with my camera about level with the heron. That showed the beach in the background and the water beyond.
For the second image I had sand-crawled a little closer to the heron and aimed my camera lens at a more upward angle. By doing so I eliminated the sand behind the heron and had sky for a background.
These images are only six frames apart.
The difference in the angle of my lens created the two different backgrounds. When I am photographing I often look for opportunities like I had with this heron to change my angle or the angle of my lens to experiment. With some habitats it can make a huge difference in the final results, in this case I like both presentations and backgrounds.
Mia
More Great Blue Heron images
