Sunlight or Clouds

February 7th, 2022 ~ My 5-day photography trip gave me ample opportunity to appreciate the effects of sunlight versus cloud cover for admiring Great Blue Herons.

Bird photographers seem to fall into two general camps when it comes to lighting. Some prefer to take photos on cloudy days. Others shun cloudy days preferring properly aligned (meaning that it comes in low, from right behind you) sunlight for their photos.

Texas being Texas, the weather during our Rockport trip was… varied. Monday had scattered clouds in blue skies, Tuesday and Wednesday had brilliant blue skies without a cloud in sight, and Thursday had morning sunshine followed by nearly solid cloud cover all afternoon.

I’ve said before that I prefer clouds… but learning how to take photos in a wider set of conditions would give me more total photo days, so I decided to give sunshine a try, using the Bent Oaks Rookery Park in Rockport Texas as my testing ground.

Ladies in waiting
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 500
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, on tripod
(Click on any photo once to enlarge in a new window; dismiss that window to return here.)

One advantage of taking photos in low slanted clear sunshine such as this winter afternoon, is that the minimal shadows give high-definition dimensionality to the image. Here, the mating season plumes on the back and chest of these Great Blue Herons (well, at least the one that is in focus) are clearly defined, and the colors of their eyes and lores in their well-lit faces are very appealing.

Hubba, hubba, darlin’
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 500
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, on tripod

A male and female were getting to know each other, showing off their plumes and their body size. The white plumes stand out against the deep blue of the sky much more clearly than they would against a cloudy white sky, adding drama and interest to the image. But you can also see that the raised wing of the bird on the left casts a sharp ungainly shadow across her body, obscuring detail in that area (even after I’ve done some work in my digital darkroom to increase the lighting there).

Wing warping at the wrist
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 500, both images
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, on tripod

This is a sequential pair of photos taken roughly 1/6^th of a second apart. I found them interesting because of the particular wing and leg position this heron adopted as he shed air speed coming in for a landing. I’ve never captured this half-wing control before, and didn’t realize the wing could be skewed at the “wrist” so sharply, primaries separately from secondaries. Again, while the sunlight provides good detail where it hits, it leaves dark obscured areas where it doesn’t penetrate the shadow. In this case, it particularly confuses details of his face, in both shots.

Great Blue Heron flies east from the Rookery to do some fishing
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 500
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, on tripod

Shots where most of the bird is in shadow are very challenging. The difference in exposure between the sunlit and shaded areas is so great that the camera cannot capture the full dynamic range. Above, the soft fine feathers of his face and neck are nicely lit, but his belly and under-wings are lost in shadow (again, even though I used Photoshop’s processing tools to brighten the deepest shadows, so that we could see a bit more detail). And, again, the sharp shadow edges cut across his body in a distracting way.

Reflected sunshine from the grass below
1/3200 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1250
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, on tripod

This male heron flew relatively low over the blond mown grass of the Rookery Park. The bright sunlight reflected back from the ground, casting a golden glow on his underside. Reflected light can be useful… but I’m not entirely happy with the bluish light from above, and yellowish light from below. On a cloudy day, light from every direction has essentially the same color.

King of the skies
1/3200 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1250
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, on tripod

This bird rolled toward me just a little, showing off his pearl-gray coverts and darker slate-blue primary and secondary flight feathers. The low angle of sunlight from behind me again allowed great definition of the coverts showing their marbled colors, and of the flight feathers showing their vanes. But it also created dark shadows under his legs, at his tail, and especially across his tightly curved neck, where the fine feather texture and the “tree-bark” pattern down his throat is almost obscured. The shape of his eye and bill are also somewhat distorted by sharp shadows.

A heron gift
1/2000 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1600
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, on tripod

This pair was having a moment at the day’s end. She had been working hard weaving some big sticks into their nest, while he stood by, resting and occasionally nudging her with his bill. Finally, she left the stick, and reached way down to pluck a bit of lichen from the branch supporting the nest. She gestured toward the male with the lichen, and he followed her bill with his own, stretching slowly up, then bowing back down. After repeated slow-motion teasing, he reached out and gently took the lichen from her.  I tried to expose for the shaded side of the birds, while the evening rays provided a lighted rim around their bodies, and showed the translucency of their bills.

Banked for a slow roll to the right
1/1250 sec. f/7.1 ISO 2000
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, on tripod

Here I’ve re-linked one of the images from my earlier post, taken on the overcast afternoon two days later. Edges are softer. Colors are less saturated, and there is generally less overall contrast making the image a bit muted in comparison. But the upper and lower surfaces of the bird are equally well-lit and the overall contouring is much more satisfying.

Clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to sunny and cloudy days. I guess my challenge is to learn how to optimize exposure for the available conditions. After all, any day with a bird in front of my lens is a great day.