The shot of the year thing is just an excuse to go through my pictures for the year and find the ones that I like best. I posted 14 of them in the past two weeks as a fun exercise and because I am not traveling-- hardly leave the house these days--what else can I do? The rest of my shots are of grandkids and birds (and the grandkid shots get more likes than anything I shoot anyway). I need some excuse to keep posting travel shots when I don't travel anywhere near like I used to. Maybe travel will pick up in 2022? Hard to tell and parts of me don't want to travel like I used to anyway. Most of my travel doesn't take me to exotic locations, I just try to find ways to push myself to get out and enjoy seeing the country while I am traveling for work and of course, pleasure. Anyway, I couldn't really pick a favorite from the bunch so I let my granddaughter Clio decide and she liked this one best. I like it as well and it is likely the one I would pick on my own. I like playing with filters and this was a technically difficult shot as I took this with a 600mm lens, hand-held across a large pond, filled with birds coming in to roost for the night in the Everglades. The original picture, with sensor dust all across the frame, is shown below. I cropped, cleaned up the sensor dust, added color, tried to bring the highlights down and then added a filter to make it look more painterly. I have been sorely tempted to fiddle with the bird on the right side of the frame to even him out with the bird on the left but haven't done so. It bothers me that they are off-center but that is where they were and so far, I have left them that way. I would have to move the branch and the shadow on the water and it would be tough to make it look real anyway. I like it the way it is, even off-center a bit. So, warts and all, these Snowy Egrets at the Big Cypress National Preservation Area are my shot of the year.
