The Look

[Don Lacy]

Another Ft Desoto image this guy was in close when he stopped and stabbed the water.

40D, 500 f/4, 1/2000 at f/5.6, Manual Mode, Evaluative Metered + 1 1/3 (confirmed with histogram then just fired away), Raw, ISO 640, Tripod small crop

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Don, great light, terrific shooting angle and loved the ripples. Excellent IQ. You fell a tad short on the SS I think. Egrets and Heron strike really fast. For such shots, it might be better to not expose all the way to the right in interest of SS. Thats a note to myself as well as I have neven been able to nail these :-)

[Bill Dix]

Love the action and the sweet light. Although not actually blown, some of the highlights are in the upper 240's. I wonder if the entire image might benefit from a tiny bit less brightness? In any event, I would love to have captured one of these guys as nicely as this.

[Marina Scarr]

Nice angle, light and behavior well captured. The water droplets and ripples work here. Agree that the lights need to go a tad darker but doesn't look blown on my monitor.

[Robert Holguin]

Love the water drops and the lgiht. Great pose, detail is superb, and the comp. Well done.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Lovely sharpness , colours and action here . A bit more SS would have made it better .

[Sid Garige]

Excellent techs as usual Don. Exceptional job.

[Don Lacy]

A bit more SS would have made it better .
This was shot at a shutter speed of 2000 of a second I do not see how a faster shutter speed would have improve the image any now a camera with a faster frame rate might have captured the moment the beak was entering the water or leaving it but that is still dependent on me hitting the shutter in time:S3:.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

This was shot at a shutter speed of 2000 of a second I do not see how a faster shutter speed would have improve the image any now a camera with a faster frame rate might have captured the moment the beak was entering the water or leaving it but that is still dependent on me hitting the shutter in time:S3:.

Don, I also had said that faster SS might have helped...I was saying that because I thought the water drops might have been frozen better....but now that I look at it again, I think they are probably not covered by the DOF... rather than it being SS issue. Nevertheless, its a stunning and difficult-to-pull-off shot.

[Don Lacy]

Don, I also had said that faster SS might have helped...I was saying that because I thought the water drops might have been frozen better....but now that I look at it again, I think they are probably not covered by the DOF... rather than it being SS issue. Nevertheless, its a stunning and difficult-to-pull-off shot.
Hi Kaustubh, The comments and critiques of a skilled photographer such as yourself are always welcome and appreciated, I did not relate the SS comment to the water droplets :e3 they are softer then the rest of the image because they were never sharpen and probably slightly OOF due to the DOF. Water drops tend to compete with the subject when they are razor sharp so I normally do not sharpen them again after my first round of capture sharpening

[christopher galeski]

very nice shot Don,like the lighting, pose,good detail,the color,and the water drops.thanks.