Battle of life or deatth

[Roman Kurywczak]

Just finished up my east coast Florida bird tour and had some fun trying to capture this confrontation between the ruddy and the crab. Wish I had a bit more light as I was trying to capture the turnstone as he was airborne attacking the crab. Early morning but overcast day.
Sigma 300-800@800mm at f/5.6 for 1/1000 sec. and ISO 1600.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice interaction well captured, Roman. What is the end of the story?

[Grace Scalzo]

THe light wasn't your friend, but your story telling is excellent and I would love to have this frame in my files. I too want to know the ending. What camera body are you using? I would add a couple of points of brightness to the scene and sharpen the bird just a bit more. maybe even dodge the faint highlight in his eye. This is why nature photography is so hard, so many things have to fall into place.

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent image of confrontation between the ruddy and the crab.
Great moment captured.Very nice composition.I like the pose of ruddy with raised foot and both staring at each other.Nice low angle too.
Would sharpen the bird and lighten the eye little bit.

Regards,
Satish.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Thanks all! Will explore the suggested tweaks. The story ended happily for all involved that day....bot went away unscathed! Canon 1D Mark lll Grace.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

I saw this picture before I read the caption and thought, this is an impressive capture with the interaction between the two. Though small crabs are on a Ruddy Turnstone's diet, I would venture to say most of us avian/nature photographers are primarily interested in, yes what was going on (the story behind the image), not necessarily the outcome of the interaction, and mostly the exif, and conditions as the photographer was capturing the image.

[Gabriela Plesea]

I completely agree with Geoffrey, and I love the interaction captured here... With a tad of sharpening, and perhaps lightening of the Ruddy's eye (I normally use levels to achieve that) those two boisterous characters would "pop" out of the picture! Great image Roman, and I really look forward to more from you!

KInd regards

[Loi Nguyen]

very nice image and interesting interaction. I wish there were more details in the black and white plumage of the bird.

[James Shadle]

What do you think about this version?


Leveled, cropped, levels, saturation and USM

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Roman, I like the slight color sat boost in James's repost.

terrific moment indeed. But still wondering why the bird is a little soft. DOF issue perhaps as you were wide open and probably the critical focus was on crab?

[gail bisson]

This is a wonderful moment captured Roman.
Just love everything about the interaction.
I think James' repost takes it up a notch with the increased saturation.
I would be doing a happy dance with this one.
I agree with the other comments made re: slight softness of bird. In a perfect world there would have been enough light to increase the DOF but this is still a winner,
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

Killer action/behavior captured here, Roman. James' RP works well. Might even dodge the eye a tad and a little more NR on some parts of the BG might beg helpful. Waiting to hear about the end of the story...although maybe you'll share that story with another thread.

[Gabriela Plesea]

James's version certainly works for me!

Kind regards

[vishaljadhav]

Wonderful image, the interaction is great
love the moment

[Roman Kurywczak]

Thanks All! In the end...... both got away unharmed. I think it is slightly soft because the turnstone was moving quickly and this was the frame just before he took off!.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot.
Nice to be at the right place and right time.
Great interaction captured, great IQ and comp.
I really like Jame's repost.
Well done.

[Bill Dix]

Great moment captured, Roman. James's repost takes it up a notch, although possibly just a bit too contrasty?? Too bad the light didn't cooperate; there's always that one more shot that we regret not getting, in this case the hovering turnstone. But I'd be delighted to come away with this one.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

What an awesome capture. I think James brought the image to it's full potential and I really like it.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice interaction!