As you undoubtedly know, because you’re on a nature photography blog, today is Nail The Pan Day, the day when we successfully pan the camera with a moving subject and keep it sharp. For my submission, I present this black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) heading out with a bit of nesting material. Note the linear blur of the background, as well as the ghostly effect on the wings, while the eyes and even the twig remained pretty damn sharp. Ordinarily, you might credit this more to luck, but it is a distinctive nature photography holiday, so you have to admit that would be a hell of a coincidence.
I will readily note that this is a captive, so a lot easier to get this close than a wild specimen, but that doesn’t affect panning technique – if anything, it’s harder because the motion is greater. I’ll provide more details in a few days, because I’m typing this on a touch-screen right now and it’s pissing me off, but I had to prove that I was on top of the holiday.