Great Egret - Fight

[Mital Patel]

<!-- / attachments --> <!-- message --> Great Egret (Casmerodius albus)
Camera : Nikon D300
Lens : Nikkor 80-400D F-4.5/5.6 ED VR
Exposure : 1/5000sec @ 240mm
Aperture : f/7.1
ISO Rating : 400
Captured On : June 28 2009, 11:41 am
Location : Thol Bird Sanctuary, Mehsana, Gujarat, INDIA

Harsh Light on top as 11am. just observing this territorial fight of great egret and found the moment interesting and started clicking from the jypsy.

[Steve Canuel]

I don't mind the harsh light too much but lack of a visible head and the clipped wing tips hurt this one for me. I do like their position near the little stream. It gives me a sense of a boundary for the territorial dispute you reference.

[Stu Bowie]

Mital, Im sure you have a sequence of these guys fighting, and am wondering why you didnt wait for the one on the left to swing around.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Sharpness and interaction are good, as mentioned it would have been better if you would have been more to your right and the bird on the left were not clipped. The image looks a bit dark on my monitor.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Mital: considering the lighting conditions, you did well, and the shadow transitions aren't as severe as I would expect. Must have been mediated by reflections off the water, or at least some cloud cover. However, as already stated, the wing hiding the birds head is a serious problem. The clipped wing tip is easily rectified, but there is no getting around the lack of a visible head. Yet, even if it were visible, it likely would be facing away. Hard situation, and angle of capture. Nontheless, your depth of field covered it well, but a more right/left bird orientation might have been better. The head of the right hand bird, almost facing directly foward, isn't ideal either, though this angle does work well with close-ups, here it makes the head look unusually small.
Exposure is somewhat under, you should be able to increase it without blowing the whites. A vertical orientation would have worked here as well, yet switching to such a camera orientation during shooting action like this often results in serious clipping. However, if you get it right it is worth the risk.
Keep up the good work ~Bill

[David Thomasson]

I agree with others that the head of one being hidden is a problem. Otherwise it is a good capture of a dramatic moment. Some selective work with curves would bring the birds out more dramatically.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9215/fighte.jpg