Snowy Egret. Shark Valley. Everglades National Park

I used this image in a post on Point and Shoot Nature Photographer yesterday as an example of the background making the shot…but it deserves the full Pic 4 Today treatment. And, yes, to my eye, the background does make the shot. The swirling highlights in the dark water elevate an ordinary portrait of a Snow Egret to something really special. And the thing is, this is one of those images that I did not see, could not see, coming. Through the viewfinder or on the LCD the water in the background was in sharp focus and the highlights were still in motion. It was only in Lightroom, when I punched up the image with my standard Sony preset, that the background jumped out! Of course, I love the feather detail in the white bird as well, and the bright yellow of the eye and ceres (skin between the eye and beak). But it is the background that makes the image.

I found the Egret, and a lot of other great birds, in the first mile and a half of the West Road at Shark Valley, in Everglades National Park. West Road is my new most favorite bird photography location!

Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 320 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.