Lunch with a View

Attachment 190718

Took the family on a short vacation to Gilbert, AZ last weekend. Was fortunate to meet up with Kurt Bowman, who kindly guided me around the Riparian Water Ranch (preserve) about 20 minutes from where we were staying.

This Snowy was gracious enough to land about 5 feet from us to do a little fishing. The action was fantastic and, despite the less-than-ideal Phoenix sunlight we made some frames.

This was the first go with the RF 100-500 as I wasn't able to bring the 600mm. Exposing properly proved challenging with the light angle [what little we had] and I spent way too much time processing it so hopefully it presents well considering....

R5
Canon RF 100-500 @ 472mm
Handheld
ISO 2500
1/3200
f7.1

LR and PS, DN. Almost no trickery - I tried to edit as a competition photo (not to say it would ever win one, just good practice I think when possible)

Lovely action here with the small fish and the water drops. Exposure looks great, as does the sharpness and eye colour/details. Low pov works so well. Congrats!

Lots to like in this one Brian. Background colors, reflection, sharp eye, but I love the unique water splash that is allowing you to see the fish through it.

This turned out great Brian! I love the fish being visible through the water and the action is terrific! It was great meeting up with you. Maybe next time we will get the normal sunlight we see around here.

What a great frame.
Love.love the little fish and its eyes visible though the splash. Fish looks like a clown.
Whites look awesome with great POV.
Good crop as well.
I like this a lot!
Gail

Fun frame Brian, good to see the fish and the BG helps with the white bird. POV and splash, terrific

----

After looking further, I feel like the bkg is a little dark. Here's a slightly modified version with bkg brightness lift.

-----

Attachment 190734

What a view indeed. The "sheet" of water is killer. The low angle is spot on. I do prefer the darker background in the original.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Paul Burdett

Lovely action here with the small fish and the water drops. Exposure looks great, as does the sharpness and eye colour/details. Low pov works so well. Congrats!

---

Paul, appreciate your comments. I'm glad to hear it looked good to your eyes!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vaughn Larsen

Lots to like in this one Brian. Background colors, reflection, sharp eye, but I love the unique water splash that is allowing you to see the fish through it.

---

Vaughn, nice to see you here! Appreciate your comments amigo, can't wait to see TX pics!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kurt Bowman

This turned out great Brian! I love the fish being visible through the water and the action is terrific! It was great meeting up with you. Maybe next time we will get the normal sunlight we see around here.

---

Kurt, it was a real pleasure, thank you again. Let's get that sweet light next time around ;-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gail bisson

What a great frame.
Love.love the little fish and its eyes visible though the splash. Fish looks like a clown.
Whites look awesome with great POV.
Good crop as well.
I like this a lot!
Gail

---

Gail, super thankful for your feedback and very glad you liked this one. Definitely unique, was blessed to get the shot.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by annmpacheco

Fun frame Brian, good to see the fish and the BG helps with the white bird. POV and splash, terrific

---

Ann, thanks so much!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Mack

What a view indeed. The "sheet" of water is killer. The low angle is spot on. I do prefer the darker background in the original.

---

John, great comments thank you. Also glad to know you liked to OP better!

Love this one Brin, the close up action with the shorter focal length makes for a nice change in perspective. Great timing on the fishing action. Personal preference for me is the OP

Mike

Hi Brian .... cool shot !!
The look through the " water window" to the little fish is soooooo good !!
Superb work .

For absolute perfection .... I wish you had more DOF :w3 .... but this complaining on a high level and I know you can stand it :w3:t3:c3:

Love your work

TFS Andreas

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike Poole

Love this one Brin, the close up action with the shorter focal length makes for a nice change in perspective. Great timing on the fishing action. Personal preference for me is the OP

Mike

---

Mike, thanks so much for your thoughts on this one!

I was just looking at your 2017 Grebe photo (annual BPN winner), that was astounding. I'd love to be able to see the raw file of that one sometime just to see how that dramatic contrast was achieved.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andreas Liedmann

Hi Brian .... cool shot !!
The look through the " water window" to the little fish is soooooo good !!
Superb work .

For absolute perfection .... I wish you had more DOF :w3 .... but this complaining on a high level and I know you can stand it :w3:t3:c3:

Love your work

TFS Andreas

---

Andreas, you're a great encouragement. Thank you so much!

I agree with you. I was challenged here a) with the 100-500mm which had to be maxed at 7.1 b) I might have been able to trade a little shutter speed but truthfully, this one was already being close to grossly underexposed in the darker areas as-is, and I was hesitant to trade for more grain and c) the action the Snowy was displaying was going to cost me in SS if I dropped too much and I feared I'd risk blur.

That all said, we always need to be pushing the envelope and next time around I will see if I can get more out of it!

Or the snowy will be nice .... and pose more parallel to the sensor :w3:cheers:

Sump Scores,

Love both versions of this great image and the post-processing is spot one. The view of the baitfish through the splash is epic.

with love, a