Breakfast At Gatorland...

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image this morning at Gatorland in Orlando, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED image captured at 195mm
1/3200 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 450 Auto 1 WB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic CC, Photoshop CC 2019 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped slightly for composition and presentation

[Chris van Rooyen]

Great moment, sublime light. I really like the clean background. The fish looks slightly oversharpened on my monitor?

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Very Nice Capture.

Sharpness on the fish can be reduced a little.

Did you use flash for this image ?

How are the birds in Gatorland this year ?

[dankearl]

Excellent... fish looks fine to me.

[John Mack]

Talk about timing. I don't really see anything wrong with this one.

[Arthur Morris]

Super-sharp all over. Was the bird in the water or on a railing? Was the fish alive when it was caught???

with love, artie

ps: what time did you get in?

[Joseph Przybyla]

Super-sharp all over. Was the bird in the water or on a railing? Was the fish alive when it was caught???

with love, artie

ps: what time did you get in?

Hi Artie, there's a story behind this image. It was 9:30 am, Dottie and I were leaving Gatorland. We tried to sneak out the back gate. Security happened to be at the gate. He told us to exit through the main entrance. Walking to the main entrance there was a pond on the left side, the bird with the fish was on the shore of the pond. The fish was alive, I watched the bird kill and eat it.

We entered Gatorland at 7:00 am.

[Joseph Przybyla]

P.S. You helped on this image. Gail posted a image of mergansers feeding. The whites were a little hot. You commented saying that in bright sun a good starting point was 1/2500 @ F/8 ISO 400. I remembered. Today 1/3200 F/8 ISO 450.

[Dorian Anderson]

Yea, this is killer! Exposure on head is good (maybe a bit hot on the back), and the fish is a fantastic feature. Might be slightly oversharpened, but not by much.

[Arthur Morris]

Good on the EXP and on the live fish! It looks pretty dead in the image :) It seems that they went back to Saturdays only for late-stay ...

with love, artie

ps: I almost went on SAT morning ...

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated. I revisited the master file, working on the exposure and sharpening. I had cleaned up the original post, I think I had cleaned it up too much. I looked too sanitized, not real. Here is a repost without any cleanup, just work on exposure and sharpening.

[Arthur Morris]

I like this version better but would still lose the two dark spots ULC and the dark spot LR.

with love, artie

[Joseph Przybyla]

Good on the EXP and on the live fish! It looks pretty dead in the image :) It seems that they went back to Saturdays only for late-stay ...

with love, artie

ps: I almost went on SAT morning ...

HI Artie, I think the reason the fish looks dead is because this image was after the bird had killed the fish and was flipping it for position to swallow it. So yes the fish is dead but it had been alive a few minutes before, in my repost note the blood.

Regarding the late stay on Friday evening it seems to be eliminated, maybe not enough interest. I have always been there in the morning. Now at Gatorland the Great Egrets and Cormorants are nesting, not in great numbers hopefully more as the season progresses. Also there were few people which makes for a more pleasant time.

[Joseph Przybyla]

I like this version better but would still lose the two dark spots ULC and the dark spot LR.

with love, artie

I can do that, thanks Artie.

[gail bisson]

Woah! There is a big difference between the OP and the repost!
I definitely prefer the repost minus the dark splotches in the RLC and LUC,
Gail

[annmpacheco]

Repost for me Joe, excellent image, love the action and wonderful details, super!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.

[arash_hazeghi]

the prey takes this one to the top, love the light and details on the fish, looks good on my monitor

TFS

[Alex Becker]

Late to the party, but ditto all the above. I like the RP with those two blotches removed. Great action Joe, perfectly timed. One of my favorite shots you've posted. TFS

[greg cowle]

Perfect timing, great frame