Young GBH learning about the hunt.

[Daniel Cadieux]

When I got to this location this young Great-blue Heron already had the fish in its bill, but was struggling to try to figure out how to swallow it. It fiddled with it for the longest time, until another young one flew in and gave it chase across the pond. A fellow photographer told me that she had later witnessed a parent bird catch a fish in front of the young only to deposit on the ground for them. Learning the tricks of the trade!

Canon 40D + 100-400L @ 400mm, manual (at metered exposure), evaluative metering, 1/160s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, slight crop for composition.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/dancad/tn_Great-blueHeron_6057-01.jpg

[David Roach]

Love the pose, composition, light, details and the prey. The water makes a great BG IMO!

[Lorant Voros]

Nice composition and beautiful BG water. There is nice detail in the plumage, good HA and pose. I am seeing some noise in the top section of the BG...maybe some NR would be good. Congratulations.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Beautiful composition,bg,pose and eye contact!

[Harshad Barve]

Loved the details , compo, HA and fish adding so much
TFS

[Raymond Barlow]

very nice Daneil, i like the bg seperation, and fine tuning of the contrast and colours.

[Aidan Briggs]

Nice even light, HA, and, exposure. Tack sharp. I like the water BG, but might prefer it to be a little more distant. I am guessing it was not possible to get lower?

Well Done!

[David Fletcher]

Neat shot Daniel! Love pose, control on contrast and the catch adds interest.

[Stu Bowie]

Tack sharp Dan, and I like the detail and colours on the heron. The colours of the fish compliment the heron too. The comp works well, and I like the texture of the water.

[Doug Brown]

Love the pose and the fish. The bird stands out nicely against the BG. A slightly lower shooting angle would have improved an already strong image. I would run a little NR on the BG

[Ramon M. Casares]

On my monitor it looks a TAD too contrasty, but I love the natural moment, BG, light, detail and comp.
Congratulations!

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great image.. loved the details, the BG gives a nice feel and the fish adds very well to this frame.. I agree about the contrast as mentioned by Ramon.

[Art Kornienko]

Nice comp Dan, tack sharp too, nice to see with the fish in the beak, maybe just a touch less contrast for me.