This image was taken back in May as the level of the James River was returning back to normal after minor flooding, but I’ve only now found the time to work on processing it. When this image was taken, the river was still a few days from being back to normal levels and the waters were running fast. I like this image for the contrast between the rushing waters and the serene stillness of the Heron.
Herons can stand remarkably still as they are waiting for a fish to come close enough to catch. I’ve taken advantage of that in this image and have used a relatively long shutter speed of 1.3 seconds to blur the water while keeping the Heron sharply in focus. If you attempt an image like this, be prepared to take a lot of images. While the Herons can stay still for long periods of time, they seem to know exactly when you are taking their picture and that’s when they decide to bob their head, or shift position slightly. I have dozens of images of this bird ruined by slight movements.
