Wildlife with Ray - Night Herons at Night

[@imelpomene]

Gorgeous!!

[@glenmitchell4868]

Very interesting style! I have rarely (if ever) seen photos like this. They are great wildlife shots and the lights give them an urban feel. We are going to that park in January. I have been there to photograph osprey and pelicans, but now I'll hang around until dark!

[@RayHennessy]

Thanks so much Glen, glad you enjoyed it! It's an amazing spot with soooo much more than Osprey and Pelicans. I host private workshops there every year and I'll be there again in February this year for a few weeks.

[@doderiolarkisso4038]

Whoa, these are very creative for the limited lighting option you had at your disposal.

[@RayHennessy]

Thanks so much!

[@guacOfShame]

Very cool results, looking forward to seeing where you go next with this style! Just wondering since these birds are already fairly adjusted to city and car lights, do you think a constant light source like a LED panel for video would be better than flash, especially for focusing? Or do you think that would be more disruptive to the birds and the rest of the ecosystem than the very low power flash as you mentioned?

[@RayHennessy]

Thanks so much for the comment! The problem with a low powered constant light is freezing the subject, the flash does the trick and you basically don't have to worry about shutter speed. With continuous light it has to be bright enough to give you a decent shutter speed and blend in with all the low light night scene so I think that would present more of a challenge. I think the birds would be fine with it as a disturbance since there is already a bunch of artificial light around the area though.

[@guacOfShame]

@@RayHennessy thanks for the response, that makes a lot of sense!

[@mikekinney1369]

Excellent!

[@RayHennessy]

Thanks!

[@MichaelFogleman]

Cool stuff! I like the part about playing with the white balance given all the artificial lighting. Did you see any interesting or surprising behavior? I never really had a chance to watch night herons at night. Do they still seem sluggish?

[@RayHennessy]

Thanks so much, it sure is fun playing with white balance like that! As for behavior they were the same as daytime, they seem to be able to see just fine at night with those huge eyes and they hunt great.

[@KurtisPape]

I have heard that the Nikon stabilisation is quite good. I struggle to get sharp shots at 1/80sec using a monopod with my Sony A1. To get 1/10sec I would need a tripod and 5 second timer haha. Interesting shots mate!

[@RayHennessy]

I think like most things Kurtis it's more about practice than gear. I've worked with plenty of Sony shooters and we can get them nice slow shutter speeds. It's a technique I've been working on for many years to be able to hand hold at these very low shutter speeds. Thanks for watching!

[@AstairVentof]

I've also hear that Nikon Z system is really good at stabilization especially with telephoto lenses in video. At least from the videos I've seen it looks crazy stable.

[@RayHennessy]

@@AstairVentof interesting, I've never personally shot other systems so I guess I can't say for sure. I do rely on the stabilization system a lot!

[@raysanders332]

Can you tell me where you found the night herons in Florida?

[@RayHennessy]

It was Sebastian Inlet, I'll be holding workshops there in February if you might be interested in learning more about shooting like this!

[@AstairVentof]

I have difficulty photographing at night because of my setup R6mii + 100-500 is way too dark at f7.1, I've still done some after sunset shots usually at 1/10 or maybe even 1s but I have to shoot 40fps and I think I'm a bit more picky about sharpness. I've thought of using flash but never really did so but it would definitely help in situations like this.

[@RayHennessy]

Yes, I could see that being the case, that does make it really tough when you are stuck at f/7.1 I'm hoping to try more this winter with these birds and a much faster f/1.8 lens to see how that helps. The flash does make a nice difference though!

[@keeno86]

It's not physically possible to shoot 40fps at 1/10 or 1s... That would be 10fps or 1fps....

[@AstairVentof]

@@keeno86 True, I just stated the fps I usually keep my frame rates at. my bad. It feels funny having to think that your fps would be more than your shutter speed. I'm so used to shooting at 1/500 or higher

[@RayHennessy]

@@AstairVentof yeah it is weird when you get into those settings.

[@borzumo]

at 1/4 speed even 3fps is enough