{"id":6365,"date":"2012-10-15T03:55:39","date_gmt":"2012-10-15T09:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6365"},"modified":"2025-08-19T05:50:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T10:50:58","slug":"ive-got-the-blues-great-blue-herons-that-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/15\/ive-got-the-blues-great-blue-herons-that-is\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve Got The Blues – Great Blue Herons That Is!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron portrait – Mid morning light – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems I have always had a fondness for\u00a0Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias<\/em>) although I don’t recall the first time I ever saw one. Great Blues are large wading birds that have a prehistoric look to them and even their calls; more like a croak, sound like something from the long distant past.<\/p>\n

When I photographed this Great Blue Heron the golden light of dawn had passed yet the light was wonderful for this close up of a resting heron. The white sand beneath it did reflect some light back towards the bird.<\/p>\n

The quality of light can make subtle to large differences in a final image, if the light is too harsh it can make the subject and its surroundings contrasty and make any shadows appear even darker. It can make whites blow out easily too. Unless there are high thin clouds or it is slightly overcast I don’t like to photograph birds in the middle of the day instead\u00a0I prefer to photograph in the early morning or late afternoon, always hoping for that “sweet light”.<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron portrait – Warm morning light – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This Great Blue Heron portrait was taken earlier in the morning than the previous image and there was still a touch of that golden morning light, the whites by the eye, the chin and under the bill have warmer tones than the image above and the feathers on the back are less a blue-gray and more of a tan-gray.<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron and the Gulf of Mexico – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This image was also taken in mid morning light, the light at that time of day is typically more “blue” than it is just as the sun rises. This Great Blue was standing on a sand dune that overlooked the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico which lends a sense of place to the photo.<\/p>\n

I’ve said I like to photograph in morning and evening light but I also like the challenges of photographing in low light, fog, rain and falling snow.<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron – Pre-dawn light with Earth Shadow – Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1.320, ISO 640, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This Great Blue Heron image is an example of photographing in low light. This was taken pre-dawn, before the sun had crested the horizon, the bluish tint near the feet of the heron was the earth’s shadow and the pink tinged sky was above that was created by the Belt of Venus<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I did lighten the exposure for this image slightly in post processing but not enough that I would have needed to use Noise Reduction.<\/p>\n

That morning is one I won’t soon forget, the wind was blowing at about 30-35 knots (35-40 mph) from the north and it was picking up the sand which felt like tiny needles where my skin was bare, I made sure to keep my lens hood pointed away from the north so the sand wouldn’t pit the UV filter that was screwed on above the glass. I was laying below the sand dune where the heron was standing, partly because I wanted a low angle but mostly because the dune did help to protect me some from the sting of the flying sand.<\/p>\n

I knew the sun was rising so I took as many images as I could, there was something about the earth shadow<\/span><\/a>, the low light and the heron that felt magical and looked wonderful through my viewfinder. It was worth having a bit of my skin peeled off to get these images.<\/p>\n

Light does make a difference.<\/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":"

It seems I have always had a fondness for Great Blue Herons although I don’t recall the first time I ever saw one. Great Blues are large wading birds that have a prehistoric look to them and even their calls; more like a croak, sound like something from the long distant past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,704,166,2000],"tags":[4004,4117,7890,4021,5229,5132,4198,3987,4077,627,626,156,4046,4234,24,7891,1868],"class_list":["post-6365","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-bird-photography","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-earth-shadow","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-low-light-2","tag-portrait","tag-pre-dawn-light","tag-sand-dune","tag-twilight","tag-warm-light"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-6455.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1EF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8905,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/18\/great-blue-heron-portraits-from-florida-and-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":6365,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron Portraits from Florida and Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In Florida I found it easy to get close up images of Great Blue Herons because quite often they are used to the presence of humans but here in Utah that isn't the case and Great Blue Herons are sort of skittish.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling adult Great Blue Heron portrait at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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the reasons I enjoy this photo is that the eye of the Great Blue Heron has a colored catchlight that is from the sun glowing yellow on the eastern horizon.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron portrait at sunrise, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3808.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/great-blue-heron-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-3808.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4531,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/02\/25\/great-blue-heron-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":6365,"position":2},"title":"Great Blue Heron in Low Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The sun had not yet crested the eastern horizon when I photographed this Great Blue Heron as it hunted in the shallow waters on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in pre-dawn light, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-pre-dawn-mia-mcpherson-4050.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-pre-dawn-mia-mcpherson-4050.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-pre-dawn-mia-mcpherson-4050.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7015,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/04\/two-great-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":6365,"position":3},"title":"Two Great Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"These two \"Great\" images were taken two minutes apart of two different \"Great\" wading birds in Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Florida"","block_context":{"text":"Florida","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/florida\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Breeding plumage lores in a Great Egret, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8131.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8131.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8131.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8131.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8133,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/17\/shades-of-blue-wildflowers-birds-sky-and-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":6365,"position":4},"title":"Shades of Blue – Wildflowers, Birds, Sky and Sea","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I was Thinking Pink so this week I thought I would focus on the shades of blues found in wildflowers, birds, the sky and seas.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It felt amazing to have that Great Blue Heron gift us with its presence for those few seconds. You just never know what might happen when you are out looking for birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron with nesting materials and yellow flowers in the distance, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0243.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0243.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}