Snowy Egret with odd shadows – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Yesterday morning I took a series of photos of a Snowy Egret at Farmington Bay WMA with the strangest shadows I have ever seen. There is the regular shadow of the whole body of the egret on the bank on the water’s edge with a second shadow of the legs of the egret enclosed inside the first shadow.
I could see the weirdness while I took photos of the Snowy Egret and I still can’t figure this out. How does the shadow of the long legs of the egret get inside the shadow of the bird’s body?
At first I thought the second shadow of the legs was being projected by the morning light on the water but I don’t know if that can explain two separate but joined shadows.
Snowy Egret with strangest shadows I have ever seen – Nikon D810, f8, 1/1600, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
I’m including a second photo that is even odder to show that there wasn’t just some dark areas of the bank that created the strange shadows. To make things even stranger in this photo the shadow of the legs inside the shadow of the whole egret can be seen inside the reflection of the shadow on the water.
Notice how the shadow of the legs reaches the top of the shadow of the body in these photos? I’m very interested in any and all explanations because this makes no sense to me.
I honestly can not figure this weird secondary shadow of the egret’s legs situation out. How does this even happen?
Life is good. And at times just plain weird.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Snowy Egret photos plus facts and information about this species.
Fascinating pics. The commentary really helped me understand how the light was working in this unusual shot. Thanks Mia.
Those are fantastic shots!
After some reflection I have this comment – your photos show two full shadows of the egret. The primary shadow is caused by his body blocking the direct rays of the sun. It’s size and shape are the same as the bird’s body, after you account for the sloping bank, which elongates the shadow somewhat. The secondary shadow is caused by sunlight reflected from the surface of the water in which the bird is standing. If you look very carefully, you can see that the secondary shadow extends up the bank above the primary shadow; I can see the dim shape of his neck and a hint of his head near the blond horizontal twig high on the bank at center-left in your first photo. The secondary shadow is much more stretched out, appearing larger, because the light is bouncing at an oblique angle from the water’s surface. I believe the curved blond horizontal striping on the bank is the highlights of reflections from the water also, since I can see some edges where the tiny ripples across the water meet the highlights on the bank. The primary shadow is also receiving supplemental lighting (like a fill-flash) from the bright water reflection; the long leg shadows are blocking the fill effect of the bounced light, so they appear the dense black of a full shadow, as do the dense shadows of the stones on the far right edges of your image, where there is no bounced light to moderate the darkness of the shadows. You could check my theory by playing with the Contrast adjustment in your photo editing software – the higher the contrast, the more apparent the bird’s secondary shadow will appear.
Wow! What a masterful analysis of the problem. A reminder that close attention to detail will turn almost any “mystery” into something understandable. Ghostbuster ! Cool! Love it ! 😁 👍
Thank you so much for that.
My mind was reveling in the image but struggling… Which is not unusual.
Weird indeed! I don’t know why but somehow it almost makes me think of some kind of Egyptian tomb drawing? Great shot. Lots of fun and a gorgeous bird too.
That is so totally weird. Maybe it has something to do with the shadow slanting towards the left rather than upright like the Snowy Egret. Hopefully, one of your readers knows about refractions of light or knows somebody who does and the mystery will be solved.
Strange and interesting! The shadow seems to have a transparent and x-ray quality to it!!! I love finding things that are a little beyond what we normally see……even if I can’t explain it!! 🙂