Marbled Godwit foraging - Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA
Silhouette of a Marbled Godwit foraging in a shallow water
This photograph was taken on my recent trip to the Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Once again, I was in awe seeing how this particular beach looks like at the golden hour with sun very low on the horizon. After first few days photographing closeups of birds feeding along the water line, I’ve decided to change my strategy for the remainder of my trip and photograph with a “wider” lens. This allowed me to include more of the bird habitat. As you will see in upcoming weeks, when I share more shots from that trip, it is actually a great choice to have a smaller zoom lens with you. This particular spot is simply spectacular at the right conditions.
If you are driving down to Florida this Winter or if you want to photograph shorebirds at Hilton Head Island, I would highly recommend to check out my newest guide: https://www.greggard.com/location-guides/shorebirds-hilton-head-island-south-carolina Here you will find a lot of information on how I photograph birds at this location. I share there my strategy for morning and evening shoot, tips and tricks, lodging information, all that to give you a great start with the very first visit or to improve your photography there.
As you can see, the same scene looks much different depending on how you crop / frame it. My favorite is the vertical crop and very wide view of the first image as well as the closer look of the second one. Even though horizontal version also looks good, I believe that bokeh circles in the foreground in the first photo add more interest to the scene.
What do you think?
As a side note, I had to tone down the saturation a bit as colors were very intense that day. I will post some photographs taken with my phone soon to show you how spectacular this place can be.
Needles to say, I highly recommend on visiting this spot at least once this Winter.
If you are interested in visiting this magical beach on Hilton Head Island, SC check out my information packed guide / ebook: https://www.greggard.com/location-guides/shorebirds-hilton-head-island-south-carolina
You can also find me on:
- Instagram: greggardphoto
- Youtube: gregsthings
- Facebook: greg.gard.9
- Twitter: newtobirding
- Full disclosure: This post contains references to products from Amazon.com and I may receive small compensation when you purchase a product via my affiliate link on this website. I'm very grateful for any purchase you make using one of my links. No personal data is shared with me -
Here are some of my favorite shorebird guides for a quick read (to save money buy used books):
- April 2023 1
- August 2022 1
- July 2022 12
- June 2022 17
- May 2022 5
- April 2022 2
- March 2022 11
- February 2022 12
- January 2022 8
- December 2021 11
- November 2021 15
- October 2021 3
- September 2021 5
- August 2021 10
- July 2021 10
- June 2021 6
- May 2021 19
- April 2021 30
- March 2021 1
- May 2020 5
- April 2020 15
- March 2020 15
- February 2020 6
- December 2019 7
- November 2019 27
- October 2019 29
- September 2019 1
- August 2019 1
- July 2019 1
- June 2019 2
- May 2019 3
- April 2019 5
- March 2019 10
- February 2019 15
- January 2019 6
- November 2018 3
- October 2018 5
- September 2018 6
- August 2018 2
- July 2018 1
- May 2018 1
- April 2018 1
- March 2018 4
- February 2018 3
- January 2018 3
- December 2017 3
- November 2017 2
- October 2017 2
- May 2017 1
- February 2017 3
- January 2017 2
- December 2016 2
- November 2016 1
- July 2016 1
- June 2016 1
- February 2016 1
- September 2015 1
- November 2014 2
- October 2014 2
- September 2014 2
- January 2014 1
- October 2013 1
- July 2013 1
- June 2013 1
- May 2013 1