More Grey Herons

[Mongo]

Some time ago Mongo posted a series of grey herons going about their business in a nearby creek of the national park. These are just a few forgotten frames from that series that have been discovered.
Again all taken with D800E, 200-500 @ 500mm f8, ISO400, various shutter speeds, monopod. These were quite some distance away and have been considerably cropped.

[Seapy]

Mongo has been hiding some treasures!

All three have merit but I think #3 for it's intensity.

[beryllium10]

A very nice set.  The reflection in the first is really well done, and the colours of the birds and lily pads look exactly right.  I rented the 200-500 mm for a weekend in May.  It seemed like a very capable lens - nicely shown here!

Cheers,  John

[armando_m]

Nice little series, really like #1

[Mongo]

Big thanks guys - your comments and feedback are very much appreciated.

The 200-500 with fine focus adjust can deliver very good results even with X1.4 converter. Have even tried x1.7 but must use manual focus on D810 (but D4s can AF with x1.7 sometimes in good light)

[Akira]

Mongo, as always, your bird shots capture the "intentions" of them.  These are no exeptions and that makes your images so lively, methinks.  Thank you for sharing!

[Mongo]

Mongo, as always, your bird shots capture the "intentions" of them.  These are no exeptions and that makes your images so lively, methinks.  Thank you for sharing!

LOL Akira ! and thanks for your insightful comments. It is funny you should say this. Birds do think like most living creatures and often show their intention through expressions of slight body gesture or look in their eye etc. Mongo watches them carefully and over time has been able to "read" their intentions a little in advance. This means you can be ready a few seconds in advance to switch from single point AF to 9 point AF just before they takes flight or makes its next interesting move etc. As a general rule, Mongo prefers to photograph birds in a real and animated way going about their business wherever possible instead of just "bird on a stick". Mind you, Mongo has also taken many "bird on a stick" images which can be wonderful and very desirable images but usually when everything is perfect i.e the light, pose, framing, BG etc. In Mongo's experience, animated images have always captured more interest and imagination in the viewer and more fun for the photographer to try and capture them.

[Akira]

LOL Akira ! and thanks for your insightful comments. It is funny you should say this. Birds do think like most living creatures and often show their intention through expressions of slight body gesture or look in their eye etc. Mongo watches them carefully and over time has been able to "read" their intentions a little in advance. This means you can be ready a few seconds in advance to switch from single point AF to 9 point AF just before they takes flight or makes its next interesting move etc. As a general rule, Mongo prefers to photograph birds in a real and animated way going about their business wherever possible instead of just "bird on a stick". Mind you, Mongo has also taken many "bird on a stick" images which can be wonderful and very desirable images but usually when everything is perfect i.e the light, pose, framing, BG etc.

Mongo, thank you for the disclosure of your technique.  That makes lots of sense.

In Mongo's experience, animated images have always captured more interest and imagination in the viewer and more fun for the photographer to try and capture them.

I would totally agree!