Great Blue Heron with Armoured Catfish...

[Joseph Przybyla]

I was at Circle B Bar Reserve this morning. While standing watching, waiting for something to happen I saw this Great Blue Heron catch a fish in the middle of the marsh. Quickly it took flight carrying the fish. I thought is was going to fly nearer, land and eat the fish. Instead it kept flying in my direction passing very near. No time to zoom in so I focused and jammed the shutter. This is the best of the bunch. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/2000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 500 AWB
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC 2017, canvas added on bottom of frame
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

That is a really interesting fish . Good job getting him in focus as he approached. I think the crop is effective, esp. if you don't have sig. more to work with. Nicely exposed.

Cheers

Randyt

[Bill Dix]

When in doubt, jam the shutter. Very well captured, Joe. Great looking catfish, and I like the comp. It may be just slightly oversharpenede.

[Lorant Voros]

This is really cool, Joe. The most I love about it is the texture of the fish. I find the shot very interesting and I font often see such close ups with a fish. Well done!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated. Here is an edit with just a very small crop on top and left to move the bird higher in the frame and maintain the 2x3 ration.

[Matthew Jones]

I really like this one Joe, even with all the armor the catfish is still not safe. I see another comp somewhere between the two, perhaps a 5:7 ratio. TFS

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent portrait with great details and beautiful composition.

Regards,
Satish.

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