Didn't have the right lens 2

I Didn't Have The Right Lens At Sanibel But So What?

I spent a fair amount of time at that slough getting several shots and every once in awhile people would stop and look to see what I was doing. If someone was intently looking through the viewfinder of a camera on a tripod something interesting must be happening. No birds there, so what was going on? I pointed to the reflections and said I was taking them. Oh, they would say, not really very interested. I invited them to look through the viewfinder and then the response was oh! That's another lesson I constantly learn: the world through the viewfinder is a lot different from the world seen with normal binocular vision. We would joke around a little about having T-shirts made with "It just left" or "Look closely, very closely" on the back. Then they would move on. With those shots of the reflections Question #1 was taking on real meaning.

But I couldn't spend all my time at the slough so it was time to do something with the birds. They were still pretty far away for my lens but that is the way it was and why not get some shots in anyway? Here is a shot of a cormorant. No, wait a minute. It isn't a shot of a cormorant so much as it is a symbolic shot of meditation and the long view.

In the original image this cropping occupied less than 10% of the total area. The bird was lost in the larger image what with the expanse of water and a distant tree line. The cropping brought it down to a stronger image. Did I lose detail? Yes, of course. But then Question #2 kicks in - do we need that much detail? It depends on what you want to do with the image. If the purpose here were to show enough of the cormorant to reliably differentiate it from an anhinga or if we wanted to see the details in the plumage it would be a failure. But what I saw was something different. As a psychologist it would not pay to anthropomorphize the bird's behavior and think of it as meditating. All we see is a bird in a certain posture and we have no idea what is running through its head. But as a photographer there is no reason I can't think of it as meditating and portray it that way. A lot of detail isn't needed for that.

I lust for a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II with 16.6 active megapixels. There are times when detail is very important. But being forced to live with less detail does have its compensations.

I'm sure you have seen a blue heron fishing. It stands perfectly still for long periods and then strikes in a blur. Here is a shot of a reddish egret. This bird goes about fishing in exactly the opposite way. It stomps around the shallows flapping its wings. It is confusing the fish and then it strikes. I love the way it is circling around here. Much of the image for me is that arc.