Frog for Breakfast

[Stu Bowie]

Another image from my morning at the wetlands south of Johanesburg. This Squacco Heron was quite active right in front of the hide, and I managed quite a few different images of him. The light was good, but had not reached the area where he was fishing, thus the high ISO. Removed a small rock behind the heron. Taken early morning, 6.37am.

Canon 1D Mark IV
100-400 @ 260mm
1/1600
F/7.1
ISO 2000

Manual exposure
hand held from a hide.

[Robert Holguin]

Terrific shot!!!
Excellent action captured.
I really like the setting, nice light, love the log, and excellent details.
Very well done.

[Don Nelson]

Outstanding action image. I really like the colors on this bird - and its got excellent sharpness.
Another excellent one from the 100-400.

[Arno Ellmer]

Great action captured here,Stu !I love the beautiful rich colours of the heron ,and the comp , including the log.Excellent IQ

[Loi Nguyen]

Stuart, beautiful colors and good action. The OOF BG is nice.

[christopher galeski]

good capture Stuart,as you say,tack sharp,nice colors and pose,love the prey in the beak and the enviroment.thanks.

[Mike Veltri]

Exellent work Stuart getting it with prey, and a great looking heron that I have not seen before.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stuart - I've never seen a heron with these colors. Nice action, details and environment. It all comes together for a great image.

TFS,
Rachel

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback and comments everyone.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:
Very handsome fellow, prey item a real plus. Nice sense of environment without being overpowering..

Really my only wish would be to tone down the branch just where it exits the frame.

Cheers

Randy

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Ah, the breakfast of champions. Terrific image, Stu. The thumbnail doesn't do it justice.
I like the pose, IQ, prey and the habitat.
I would clone out the dark bit on the left leg.

[Satish Ranadive]

Stuart Sir:
Beautiful action captured.Great IQ,very nice colors,details and habitat.

Regards,
Satish.

[Richard Unsworth]

Stuart -superb in every way, a picture to explore detail

[Karl Egressy]

Amazing action shot, Stuart. Love the colours, light and composition. Bad for the froggy.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the colours, prey, sharpness, details and setting. Very well done Stuart!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

great catch!! loved the details and the angle. Comp. is also nice. No suggestions. terrific as-is.

[Raymond Lee]

Nicely composed! I really like the environment.

[Greg Oakley]

Fantastic shot Stuart! Superb detail, composition and timing (and a cracking species as well!),
Cheers, Greg

[dankearl]

Your processing is always first rate, Stuart.
It just looks great, nice color, smooth and the prey is a plus.
Always a pleasure to view.

[David Salem]

Very nice Stuart. Love the going down the hatch pose. Techs are great and nice detail especially for that high of ISO. Well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the kind words.