{"id":69609,"date":"2025-03-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/?p=69609"},"modified":"2025-03-03T20:45:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T03:45:31","slug":"the-wildlife-photographers-best-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/the-wildlife-photographers-best-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wildlife Photographer&#8217;s Best Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_image src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Great-Blue-Heron-6986.jpg&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; box_shadow_style=&#8221;preset1&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; title_text=&#8221;Z9#2&#8243; height=&#8221;735px&#8221; min_height=&#8221;735px&#8221; max_height=&#8221;735px&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;center&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;|||0px|false|false&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;||0px|||&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>Great Blue Heron captured by Z 9 \/ Z600f4TC<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_text_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; text_font_size=&#8221;16px&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;20px||30px||false|false&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>Like most beginning wildlife photographers, one of the birds I photographed was the friendly, neighborhood Great Blue Heron. This large bird found around the globe is, for the most part, very forgiving to us newbees. They let us make all sorts of mistakes, which most of the time do no more than make the GBH move off a short distance. Their large size permits us to capture nice images even though we don&#8217;t have the longest glass in the store. So it is only right that as we get better, we revisit our early friends and do photographically right by them. How?<\/p>\n<p> Start with making them the star of the photograph, and we do that by being very picky with the background. With that long lens you now have in your bag of confidence, move left or right, up or down just enough to make the GBH pop in the frame. You do that when you have that gorgeous soft light. Light that brings out all the detail yet illuminates the elegance of this magnificent bird. While it might be common, with you since you, we, first started out in wildlife photography, it&#8217;s a great subject that teaches new lessons every time we have in the viewfinder. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s wildlife photographer&#8217;s best friend!<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Great-Blue-Heron-7521.jpg&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; box_shadow_style=&#8221;preset1&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; title_text=&#8221;Z9#2&#8243; min_height=&#8221;735px&#8221; height=&#8221;735px&#8221; max_height=&#8221;735px&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;center&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>Great Blue Heron captured by Z 9 \/ Z600f4TC<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Great Blue Heron captured by Z 9 \/ Z600f4TCLike most beginning wildlife photographers, one of the birds I photographed was the friendly, neighborhood Great Blue Heron. This large bird found [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1219","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","sync_status":"none","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-69609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wildlife-photography"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Great-Blue-Heron-6986p.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Podcast.jpg?fit=1500%2C1500&quality=89&ssl=1","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/Podcast\/B08JJQC1GR?ref=a_pd_item-n_c0_bc&pf_rd_p=1da7ab30-c785-4a0e-a160-4a7e7077b353&pf_rd_r=EEDMYHQM3DZ05FPRTHMJ","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2fRA9VaVfSdQMKf1ipxr0tipxr0t","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/moose-podcast\/id1107405746","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/moose-podcast","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"nk7AvgACjS\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/the-wildlife-photographers-best-friend\/\">The Wildlife Photographer&#8217;s Best Friend<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/the-wildlife-photographers-best-friend\/embed\/#?secret=nk7AvgACjS\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;The Wildlife Photographer&#8217;s Best Friend&#8221; &#8212; Moose Peterson&#039;s Website\" data-secret=\"nk7AvgACjS\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! 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