Saturday, January 8, 2011

Pic of the Day


  White Ibis—Fort De Soto State Park, Saint Petersburg, Florida:  We arrived at Fort De Soto Park around 3:00 O’clock in the morning on New Years Day.  Having driven all night I was exhausted.  So, having a full size bed in the back of the van I retired for the morning and got a few hours sleep before sunrise.
     The sun rose around 7:00 O’clock and I was soon on the beaches looking for shorebird to photograph.  The morning was chilly, with temps somewhere in the mid 50’s (F).  In a small lagoon I found a flock of White Ibis huddled together with each going about its early morning preening duties.  The ibis were standing in the shade and the sunlight was falling on the water behind them.  I particularly liked the way the shadows softened the bird’s feathers and how the feathers edges seem to blend into the overexposed water in the background. 
     I made my exposure using the spot meter in manual exposure mode.   I took a meter reading from the birds whitest feathers and exposed that area one stop lighter than a middle value.  This exposure, along with the direct sunlight caused the watery background to overexpose and turn white that provides a light, ethereal quality to the image.

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f4, Digital Capture ISO 200,  1/200 sec. @ f6.3

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