Striated Heron at the Park
Today I was at the MPH Book store in 1 Utama shopping Mall browsing some magazine and books. The MPH book store at 1 Utama once claimed to have the largest floor space in the City. Sad to say, they are now just half that size occupying only the upper level. The lower level at 1st floor is now vacant with the sign "We Are Still Open. Please Use The 2nd Floor Entrance".
Didn't find anything interesting in MPH but was attracted or rather distracted by a nice view from the glass windows at the far end of the book store. Looking down the window panel I saw the 1 Utama Central Park on the ground level. I had never set foot on the 1 Utama Central Park and since there is nothing much for me here I decided to take a walk in the Park.
The 1 Utama Central Park looked a little doughty - many trees with leaves turning yellow due to the dry season here. There was a pond or lake not far from me. As I walked towards it, I started pulling out my Olympus Pen E-P1 camera from my messenger bag. At that juncture from the corner of my eyes something caught my attention - something small but moving swiftly by the bank of the pond.
I turned and saw a Striated Heron running by the lakeside hunting for food. Striated Heron, also known as the Little Heron are a sub species of the Heron families. They are called Little Heron because they are half the size of their bigger cousin. Striated Heron are not commonly seen in our park so was not expecting it anyway. Squires are more likely to be seen everywhere in most parks but instead there was non here today.
I started taking photo of the Little Heron. On the third shot I noticed my camera was set at ISO 1600; that was when I noticed the shutter speed went as high as 1/4000 second. This morning in the kitchen I set the ISO to 1600 and forgot to reset it. I quickly set it back to ISO 200, my preferred ISO setting. I am not too confident with ISO 1600 and usually stay below ISO 800.
Later, on my computer screen looking at the photos I was presently surprised by those photos taken with the ISO 1600 setting. Those ISO 1600 images were in JPEG only though I usually shot Raw plus JPEG. However those images look way better than the images I scanned from ISO 400 35mm film taken from my film days. So for the purpose of the web or blog the ISO 1600 images from the Pen E-P1 are perfectly usable.
The first image on this post is the Little Heron with the ISO 1600 setting. The Little Heron is back-lighted on this photo. The first two images not shown here at ISO 1600 have better colour compared to this one but the Striated Heron appears too small in those two photographs.
The feathers of the Little Heron seem to reflect light differently depending the direction of the light shining on it. I am no expert on birds and I only have an hour with this Striated Heron so not sure my observation is in general or just this one Little Heron.
This lone bird looked proud and collected and it didn't care too much of my presence. This Striated Heron seemed to maintain a distance as long as I don't cross it otherwise it will take off to the other side of the pond. I got closer by moving slowly hiding behind a tree however at one point the Little heron and I were both walking together along the bank of the pond side by side with a distance of about 2~3 meter apart!
What a coincidence that I mounted the M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F4-5.6 Lens with my Pen E-P1 camera today. Having no prior idea that I was going to meet this Little Heron at the park. This is the one time I wished I had a longer focal length lens than 150 mm focal length with me but situation like this don't happen too often for me.
The impromptu visit to the Park turned out to be a rewarding nature/wildlife photography session. I packed only two lenses with me, the other is the Olympus pancake lens M.Zuiko Digital 17mm F2.8 and these seemed to be just the right lenses for the day.
Didn't find anything interesting in MPH but was attracted or rather distracted by a nice view from the glass windows at the far end of the book store. Looking down the window panel I saw the 1 Utama Central Park on the ground level. I had never set foot on the 1 Utama Central Park and since there is nothing much for me here I decided to take a walk in the Park.
 |
| A lone Striated Heron at he One Utama Central park. -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1. Lens: M.Zuiko ED 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 telephoto zoom lens . Setting lens zoom at 150mm and f/5.6 1/4000s and ISO 1600. |
The 1 Utama Central Park looked a little doughty - many trees with leaves turning yellow due to the dry season here. There was a pond or lake not far from me. As I walked towards it, I started pulling out my Olympus Pen E-P1 camera from my messenger bag. At that juncture from the corner of my eyes something caught my attention - something small but moving swiftly by the bank of the pond.
I turned and saw a Striated Heron running by the lakeside hunting for food. Striated Heron, also known as the Little Heron are a sub species of the Heron families. They are called Little Heron because they are half the size of their bigger cousin. Striated Heron are not commonly seen in our park so was not expecting it anyway. Squires are more likely to be seen everywhere in most parks but instead there was non here today.
 |
| Striated Heron hunting for prey by the lakeside -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 telephoto zoom lens, setting at 150mm F/5.6 1/200s and ISO 200. |
I started taking photo of the Little Heron. On the third shot I noticed my camera was set at ISO 1600; that was when I noticed the shutter speed went as high as 1/4000 second. This morning in the kitchen I set the ISO to 1600 and forgot to reset it. I quickly set it back to ISO 200, my preferred ISO setting. I am not too confident with ISO 1600 and usually stay below ISO 800.
Later, on my computer screen looking at the photos I was presently surprised by those photos taken with the ISO 1600 setting. Those ISO 1600 images were in JPEG only though I usually shot Raw plus JPEG. However those images look way better than the images I scanned from ISO 400 35mm film taken from my film days. So for the purpose of the web or blog the ISO 1600 images from the Pen E-P1 are perfectly usable.
 |
| A Little Heron standing on a rock by the pond waiting for prey at noon time. -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1. Lens: M.Zuiko ED 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 telephoto zoom lens. Setting lens zoom at 150mm and f/7.1 1/160s and ISO 200. |
The first image on this post is the Little Heron with the ISO 1600 setting. The Little Heron is back-lighted on this photo. The first two images not shown here at ISO 1600 have better colour compared to this one but the Striated Heron appears too small in those two photographs.
The feathers of the Little Heron seem to reflect light differently depending the direction of the light shining on it. I am no expert on birds and I only have an hour with this Striated Heron so not sure my observation is in general or just this one Little Heron.
 |
| In good light the feather of this charming Little heron look shiny and beautiful. -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 telephoto zoom lens, setting at 150mm F/5.6 1/150s and ISO 200. |
This lone bird looked proud and collected and it didn't care too much of my presence. This Striated Heron seemed to maintain a distance as long as I don't cross it otherwise it will take off to the other side of the pond. I got closer by moving slowly hiding behind a tree however at one point the Little heron and I were both walking together along the bank of the pond side by side with a distance of about 2~3 meter apart!
What a coincidence that I mounted the M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F4-5.6 Lens with my Pen E-P1 camera today. Having no prior idea that I was going to meet this Little Heron at the park. This is the one time I wished I had a longer focal length lens than 150 mm focal length with me but situation like this don't happen too often for me.
 |
| The rocks on the left is where I first noticed this Striated Heron -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17 mm f/2.8 Pancake Lens, setting at F/8.0 1/160s and ISO 200. |
The impromptu visit to the Park turned out to be a rewarding nature/wildlife photography session. I packed only two lenses with me, the other is the Olympus pancake lens M.Zuiko Digital 17mm F2.8 and these seemed to be just the right lenses for the day.
