"Taking Flight", Egret.
Okavango Delta,
Botswana.
Photographed from a
helicopter, during the morning in July, 2009,
an egret takes to the air over the Okavango
Delta. The helicopter had the side doors removed so
there was no issue with shooting through glass, with the
problem of glare and reflections which often make photographing from
aircraft difficult. The downside to that is the amount of air
turbulence which occurs buffeting the photographer as he directs the
lens.
It was advised in the circumstances to
use lenses without lens hoods attached as they tend to act like a sail,
catching the wind and adding to the problem of camera
shake. Given the vibration of the aircraft and the
air turbulence, fast shutter speeds were essential and a zoom lens
proved most useful.
The Okavango Delta is fed by the
waters of several rivers originating in the highlands of Angola.
2009 provided one of the best seasons seen for many years in
the delta with substantial rainfall in the catchments ensuring
that water levels were high. Indeed some channels,
such as the Savuti Channel, which had been dry for 20 years, were full.
Canon
5D with 70-300mm zoom at 210mm, aperture F5.6, shutter speed 1/800
second, ISO 640.
Processed in Adobe Lightroom 2.6, the
exposure on the right 2/3rds of the image was reduced by 1.5
stops to even out the excessive contrast between the dry grasses on the
right of the image and the dark waters on the left of the image.
With the egret being small in frame and
a lot of detail in the grasses and reeds, this image really
needs to be viewed larger to fully appreciate it.
The image is available as a wallpaper via the downloads page.
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