Yellow-crowned Night-heron with Crab

[Rhys Marsh]

Taken on Isla San Cristobal, Galapagos, this immature Night-heron was stalking sand crabs and was lucky enough to get some lunch. As always, C&C of all kinds welcomed and appreciated.

http://gallery.birderproject.com/Geography/Birds-of-the-Galapagos/i-G4CJtsk/0/L/Yellow-crowned-Night-heron-L.jpg (http://gallery.birderproject.com/SpeciesGroup/Bitterns-Herons-and-Egrets/20583864_kk3dqj#!i=1580941210&k=G4CJtsk&lb=1&s=A)

Canon 7D
EF 70-200 f/4.0 IS USM w/ 1.4x Extender II
ISO 100
1/80 f/5.6 (In retrospect probably should have boosted ISO, but seems to have frozen action anyway)
Handheld
No flash

[Randy Stout]

Rhys:

Reasonably sharp with this shutter speed, crab a plus, well exposed. Good eye contact of bird with prey.

Very tight in the frame for my tastes, esp. below.

I appreciate trying to get the best possible quality from low ISO, but it is a rare situation with birds where that ISO is a good choice. Too much movement.

I normally shoot a minimum of ISO 400 to insure enough shutter speed flexibility, and often much higher ISOs. (Even on the D300, which doesn't great ISO performance.)

I would rather have a sharp image with a little noise, than a blurry image with no noise!

Cheers

Randy

[laurie golden]

I agree with Randy's comment on the ISO, you should be using 400 or above. I do like this head shot, don't mind the tight crop, the feathers are beauiful. It must have been fun to get that close to a night heron.

[gail bisson]

I agree with Laurie and Randy re: needing more room , especially at the bottom. I like the diagonal line created by the pose. Good view of the eye and the crab is neat,
Gail

[Peter Dexter]

I find the bill much too tightly cropped. One almost misses the little crab. Other than that nice portrait.

[Rhys Marsh]

Thanks for the feedback! Unfortunately on this one, this is the full frame image so no more room below. My thought process in composing this image in the field was to try to align the eye with the bottom right intersection of a gridline of thirds, and I also liked the diagonal. I can definitely see how more space at the bottom would be useful, something to consider next time. Thanks again for the great comments!