Advertisement
Advertisement
Read Next
Photo Of The Day By Linn Smith
Today’s Photo Of The Day is “In...Photo Of The Day By Robert Henderson
Today’s Photo Of The Day is...Photo Of The Day By Christopher Baker
Today’s Photo Of The Day is...Fall Wildlife Assignment Winner Jessica Nelson
Congratulations to Jessica Nelson for...Advertisement
Featured Articles
Read More
Batch Resize Photos With Photoshop’s Image Processor
Have you ever needed to resize a number of images and you painfully go through the process one photo at...
Read More
How To Plan A Milky Way Photo Shoot
Tips for choosing locations, timing and creative approaches to photographing the Milky Way above the landscape for incredible nighttime photos.
To access this content, you must purchase Outdoor Photographer Membership.
Read More
Landscape Photography Lenses
Our guide to wide-angle lenses, the most popular and useful optics for landscape photography.
Read More
Ultra-Compact Super Telephoto
Field testing the AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens, a super telephoto prime that's priced within reach of more photographers.
To access this content, you must purchase Outdoor Photographer Membership.
Read More
Advantages Of Micro Four Thirds
Lightweight and compact, these cameras offer an easy-to-carry alternative to DSLR systems
Read More
Point Reyes National Seashore
One of the best-kept secrets of the National Park Service, Point Reyes National Seashore is a year-round wildlife destination.
To access this content, you must purchase Outdoor Photographer Membership.
Behind The Shot: Fairy Dancers
Photo By Linn Smith
Lake Jesup is located in central Florida and is one of the area’s largest lakes as well as home to a wide variety of wildlife. Living in close proximity to this area affords me many opportunities for observing and photographing wildlife. To better understand their many complexities and behaviors, I’ve spent countless hours watching the wildlife perform different activities and capturing these various endeavors with my camera.
When photographing wildlife mannerisms, it’s especially rewarding to watch the interaction between members of the same species. On this particular day, after two hours of photographing other birds, I spotted these two great egrets engaged together in movement across the water. They appeared intent to find an appropriate landing spot to begin their search for food. Luckily, I spotted them due to their large size and could check my settings for capturing their landing.
Watching their interaction as they descended to the shoreline and coming very close to where I was positioned reminded me of a dance movement, as if they were performing around a score. Their graceful timing was perfectly in sync with one another and balletic in a smooth, precise touchdown. The rhythmic steps of their descent were fluid in beauty and perfection.
When I returned home and viewed my multiple captures of their flight and landing, I chose this particular image as it seemed to remind me of fairy dancers in a soft mist as they flowed across the water and approached landing with delicate grace. On further reflection and in studying my composition of these two great egrets, I decided to convert the image to black and white in order to emphasize their dreamlike landing. I hope I accomplished this effect.
Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM. Exposure: 1/2000 sec., ƒ/13, ISO 400.
See more of Linn Smith’s work at 500px.com/linnsmith.