Cormorant with Perch

[Ivan Ellison]

Managed to capture a nice sequence of this cormorant struggling to eat this fairly large perch. Although I have seen them eat larger fish I think the spines on the perch were proving difficult- it didn't save him and in the end he slipped down the birds throat.
Dunham Massey park, Altrincham, grt Manchester.
Cropped to approx 70% of original. Slight tweak to exposure, increased clarity and a little NR in ACR.
Lightened the birds back slightly, blur tool across background and sharpened twice in PSE 10.
Canon 1D mkIV,
Canon 500 f4 is + 1.4 = 700mm
1/1250 sec
f 7.1
iso 800.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice action shot, Ivan.

[Lorant Voros]

Nice action shot and extreme low angle. Love the water drops around the fish. Pity for the "dirty" water and the dark part of the BG is slightly distracting. Well done Ivan.

[Hayath Mohammed]

Great low angle to compliment the action in the shot lent by the droplets in the air
Tough luck on the mixed BG and the less than ideal FG with floating elements. That'll push you for the next visit again :)

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Ivan-

Great moment captured. Really nice low angle and great storytelling from the image alone. The water droplets are a nice plus!

I agree with Lorant about the dark patch in the bg, and would consider cloning it out. I would crop from the bottom and add some to the top, if available.

Miguel

[Marina Scarr]

Super action captured here. The dark patch in the BG is a bit distracting but the rest of the colors, the water splash and the size of the fish really add so much.

[Ivan Ellison]

Thanks for your comments. have looked at some more from further along the sequence.They have less or no dark patch.Now you have pointed it out they do seem better but the water drops are missing on them.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent action! love those water drops.

[Satish Ranadive]

Absolutely superb action captured.Love the HA,fish and water water droplets.

Regards,
Satish.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Excellent action, catch and water droplets. One could remove dark BG in PS. Love the very low angle, good work.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the curling fish and accompanying flying water drops!! Nice low angle and sharpeness. As for the floating elements in the water....I don't mind the orangish ones as they match the BG, but I'd eliminate the white ones. That large black element would have been better not there, but it can be tamed in post. Great opportunity you had, and you made the most of it!!

[Robert Holguin]

Terrific shot.
I really like the super low angle, great background, love the water drops, and great eye contact.
Well done.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very good action here! and very nice warm light! keep it up!