Heron Rookery

[bmayfield]

I do not have a lot of experience with photographing animals, but find it fascinating. After boating down the bayou and trudging through waist deep swamp to get to the nesting grounds I was somewhat disappointed with how my photos turned out. The sun was a little higher than I had hoped because it took longer than expected to get to the site. The main issue I have is the lack of crispness and depth in the pictures. Trying to figure out if it is camera, lens, or operator error Camera is Pentax K10, lens was a 30 year old telephoto, not sure of the maker. I have included the exif but had to guess on the f stop because this lens is fully manual and I switched between 9 and 11. Feel free to be brutal, I will have a lot of opportunities for animal photography and really want to learn!

EXIF
ISO 100
1/350 sec
f/11?
Focal length 500

[Visions]

You certainly are an enthusiast to go through all that discomfort for a photography outing!
Your picture is nicely balanced but as you pointed out it is rather two dimensional. I think that is mostly due to the weather - it must have been a really, really bright day to have such a blue sky and for you to use f11. It is the f/stop that is the secret to depth. With f/11 you have enormous depth of field so the branches in front of your heron are as sharp as the ones that are behind.
Before you go to such clothes drenching lengths again, practice on a bright day in your back yard with higher shutter speeds and f/ stops lower than f/6
AJ

[bmayfield]

Thank you AJ. Yes it was a very bright morning. We set out pretty early, but it took a while to get to the location. I appreciate your feedback.