Photographed in Florida last month. I was not set up for flight photos when these two Cattle Egrets came right at me so the shutter speed is probably too slow. Comments appreciated.
For me, this is one of those rare opportunities that trumps technical aspects, because it's just so darn cool to have captured such a moment (two birds in synchronized flight with the leader displaying a frog!). Congrats on one of those rare moments! I'm no expert by far on the technical aspects, but other than toning down the whites a bit, I'd leave it as is. Nicely done!
I agree with Jeannean that this is a wonderful capture in terms of behavior. Of course, you can wish for a faster shutter speed, but sometimes you just can't react fast enough to change the settings. Feather detail is lost in the whites on both birds as well. This will be a shot you will always remember, I'm sure.
Hi Ken- You have got a little motion blur going on but the composition and action trump that (I just read Jeannean's post and she used the same word so I guess we are thinking along the same lines. I didn't peak, I promise!). Regarding exposure and detail in the highlights, if you shot RAW you may be able to recover some detail in the upper wings. In Photoshop CS6 I would use the Exposure, Highlight and the Whites sliders to do this.
Ken, I must agree with the others. The action trumps the techs on this one. The composition is good - tough to get when you must shoot from the hip like this. The whites are a bit burnt, but I would live with that to get this great catch! Perhaps you can improve them in PS.
Superb capture and I agree with the others above - sometimes there is only time to push the button and hope for the best, looks like we have the same camera set-up and at 1/500 I would be chuffed to have grabbed this one as well as you have.
Frog Lunch
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