Bucket-baited Great Blue Heron

[Arthur Morris]

This GBH was photographed on the recently concluded SW FLA IPT with the hand held Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens, the 1.4XIII TC, and the EOS-1D X. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero as framed: 1/2000 sec. at f/7.1.

I caught greenbacks with a cast net, put the fish in a bucket half-filled with saltwater, and sat down with the group to make a good image. That was a lot more difficult than it sounds.....

You can take the Exposure Quiz and try to figure out what I did in one second when a Boat-tailed Grackle flew in against the wind to explore the situation by clicking here.

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome.

[Mike Delgado]

Great capture.

[Grace Scalzo]

This one's all about the little fish and the droplets. Bird is nice too. Been on the computer all day but wondering a bit more sharpening on that gracefully curved neck and feather pattern might not hurt?

[Diane Miller]

Perfection! How to top this? (But I know you will.)

[Doug Brown]

Excellent timing, great composition, and fantastic detail! One of your best frames in recent memory!

[arash_hazeghi]

what I like about this one is the fish's open mouth and the fact that we can see his eye!excellent action

[Jonathan Ashton]

Absolute KO Artie, wouldn't change a thing, and boy does that fish look scared!

[Arthur Morris]

Arash and Jon, Hate to burst your bubble but the open mouth indicates that the fish is dead.... It takes them a lot longer to swallow a live one.

[vishaljadhav]

Nice image , Lot of things i like around here, the open beak the mid air fish, lovely bg
classically focused eye
the crest even though out of focus really adds a lot to the image , beautiful image

[Jonathan Ashton]

Arash and Jon, Hate to burst your bubble but the open mouth indicates that the fish is dead.... It takes them a lot longer to swallow a live one.

Nah, he isn't dead, that's his last gasp!!

[Jim Crosswell]

Great image Arthur! I like the IQ, fish, details and composition.

[Frank Schauf]

Superb shot! Excellent pose, great timing and action.

[PhilCook]

hahahaha....I swear that little fish is screaming ...to me this fine image has a humorous aspect...or maybe I'm delusional ?

Really cant see much to improve upon, except possibly a little more sharpening to the birds head/eye region