{"id":61038,"date":"2019-10-27T06:47:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T12:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=61038"},"modified":"2024-11-09T03:50:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T09:50:54","slug":"photographing-the-earths-shadow-with-a-great-blue-heron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/27\/photographing-the-earths-shadow-with-a-great-blue-heron\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing The Earth’s Shadow With A Great Blue Heron"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning is cold and the radar\/satellite shows that it is snowing and cloudy outside. I can’t see any snow on the ground because it is still pitch dark as I write this but if there is snow it is probably just a skiff of the white stuff.<\/p>\n

\"EarthEarth Shadow with a Great Blue Heron – Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1\/100, ISO 1000, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 122mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The clouds overhead will likely keep me from going out into the field today but who knows, if it does start snowing hard I may have to jump into my Jeep and head down to the local pond to see if I can photograph birds in falling snow.<\/p>\n

Where I was and what I was doing eleven years ago this morning is a completely different story. At the time I was living on the west coast of Florida and the temps were warm enough that I was in the water of the Gulf of Mexico or belly crawling through warm, sugar sand to photograph birds on the shore.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> before dawn and headed out towards the Gulf to look for birds and to my delight I soon realized that I had the beach to myself. I wandered north while listening to the birds that were calling, the quiet sound of the water lapping against the sandy shore while enjoying the sea breeze.<\/p>\n

When I reached the north tip of the beach I could make out the form of a Great Blue Heron in the pre-dawn light so I dropped down on to my belly and slowly but steadily sand-crawled towards the resting wading bird.<\/p>\n

Because I arrived at twilight that morning and had a clear sky I knew that I could take photos of the Great Blue Heron with the blue colored Earth’s Shadow<\/span><\/a> and pink Belt of Venus<\/span><\/a> behind it.<\/p>\n

Just days before I had taken close up images of another Great Blue Heron with the Earth’s Shadow<\/span><\/a> behind the heron for my first time ever and I was thrilled with those images, they are still some of my favorites images of this species.<\/p>\n

However; eleven years ago today I decided I wanted to take a different approach and create images that showed the heron smaller in the frame with more of the Belt of Venus and Earth’s Shadow in the background so I backed up my zoom to accomplish my goal.<\/p>\n

I believe that my strategy worked out quite well plus I even captured a pinkish glow in the surface of the water.<\/p>\n

I see the Earth’s Shadow and Belt of Venus in Utah but usually as I am heading out into the field first thing in the morning. I haven’t photographed a single bird here with the Earth’s Shadow and Belt of Venus behind it though I think I know just how to accomplish it.<\/p>\n

I know this, I want to try. I just need the right atmospheric conditions, a little ingenuity and a bird.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because I arrived at twilight that morning and had a clear sky I knew that I could take photos of the Great Blue Heron with the blue colored Earth’s Shadow and pink Belt of Venus behind it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,704,166,2000],"tags":[4004,4117,7890,4198,7889,3987,173,4077,627,626,3997,8301,8300,4234,7891,3996],"class_list":["post-61038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-great-blue-herons","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-belt-of-venus","tag-earth-shadow","tag-earths-shadow","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-lagoon","tag-photograph","tag-photographing","tag-pre-dawn-light","tag-twilight","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t