Got it . . . (GBH)

[wendell westfall]

D70s 70-200VR+2X@155 1/1000 f/8.0 ISO640 0EV handheld

This morning I went back and luckily got to watch the GBH I'd seen a couple days earlier capture and consume a pretty large fish. He had been hunting deep in the bulrushes behind him, which border a large pond. I was quite close, so the crop is minor. I did some tweaking, including cloning over one small hot-spot on the fish. Soon after this picture was taken he gulped down the fish very quickly -- amazing how they can easily swallow things this size (and much larger!). Any suggestions, please, for improving the image?

Wendell

[Chris Hansen]

Wendell,
I love the intensity of the eye. it would be nice to see the head of the fish but that's probably asking too much! I would suggest getting on a lower level so you could eliminate a lot of the road and be on a more intimate level with the bird. The same is usually true of most of the time with all wading and water birds. Get down and low to their level. Hopefully someday i'll manage to get close to a GBH eating a fish. Keep'em coming.

God bless,

chris

[Lance Peters]

Hi Wendell - love the action - agree with Chris - a lower shooting angle may have dramatically improved this shot - the road area is the lightest part of the picture - so your eye naturally goes there taking attention away from Mr GBH.
Keep em coming :)

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Wendell,
Nice catch...agree with Chris and Mr. Peters on the low capture angle...aside from this, good show...:cool:

[Jeff Cashdollar]

wendell,

Nice action shot, as mentioned try to be eye-level with the subject if possible. Believe me, I know that is not always possible. I did two things earlier this year that improved my photography (IMO anyway). One, I got off the center sensor and started using the other outer points to frame better compositions and two, I lowered my lens angle. I try to get eye level, just like with a family picture. Well done and a very cooperative subject -great moment in nature.

Love the feet.

[Ron Boisvert]

Hi Wendell, As you have captured this image, I cannot see much you can do to improve it. It's a great natural history moment, and I agree that it's amazing that a fish that big will go down that skinny gullet.
Sounding like a broken record, and knowing that it is often hard if not sometimes impossible to get low, I think if you had been able to do so this image would have been much more effective. Since you know where this guy is hanging out, maybe you can go back and try a different approach. Looking forward to your next posting.

[wendell westfall]

Well, I took many images of the rascal, so here is another, about 25% cropped away and the small remaining corner of the road that still showed cloned over. Really appreciate your critiques (everyone agreed!). I'll try to get lower next time!! And it would have been very easy to have done that in this instance, too. Now I'll go on to some other critters . . .

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Looking good, the closer picture eliminates a lot of non-value adding stuff and you maintained nice detail - well done wendell.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Wendell,

Good to see you are getting out and having fun!

The original image appealed to my weird sense of humor - the idea of the heron catching the fish on the road:D Ha ha - still laughing - must be crazy!

I couldn't help but notice that there is quite a big difference in the color between your two images. Can't recall what software you are using, but I find it is really quite easy to set the white balance in LR2 - I can get one right and then synch the other similar shots in the series with just one click, so they all have the same colour.

Our Avocets have packed up for the summer now and gone off on their vacation - but I'm looking forward to seeing them again next year!

Best regards,

Gerald