Crab Catcher

[John Rowell]

Another image from Ft. DeSoto last week. I love watching Spoonbills and this fellow didn't let me down. This is about a 50% crop, I really miss the 1.4 extender that I managed to leave in a rental car about 6 months ago.

Lightroom brought down the highlights. In PS cleaned up the water somewhat, burned some detail only to the left shoulder, USM on the Spoonbill and the crab. Oh, also brightened the crab up just a bit.

D4, 600 mm, tripod mounted, 1/1000 sec at f8, auto iso 160.

[Lorant Voros]

This is a winner. I like the eye contact..from both crab and bird:). The bird is really nicely facing your camera. I wish I had an image like this. Well done.

[Graeme Cox]

Thats some image, Great colour Crisp Sharp, eye contact. Nice..

[arash_hazeghi]

dynamic pose with great details and a nice low angle. the crab is a plus. I might only add a bit more room on the top

great image overall

[Martin Dunn]

Lovely colours, great detail great action & eye contact. Top shot John.

[Randy Stout]

John:

Great timing, good techs, shooting angle and birds angle in frame.

I agree with Arash about a bit more room above. Even though the pose suggests a snug horizontal crop, it would benefit from a bit more room above.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Hi John, great timing to have the crab between the bill, and I really like the low perspective and the angled pose of the spoonie. Overall well exposed, sharp, and agree, a bit more room on top wont harm the image.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I like this too. The behavior is great as is the light and detail

[Holger Leyrer]

The open beak with the crab is stunning. Grat low angle, colors and details

[gail bisson]

A terrific image.
I like the really low POV and agree about a touch more room up top,
Gail

[Jim Crosswell]

Great image John! I like the colours, great timing, sharpness, reflection, body angle and light. I wish I would have found them there. I had two fly by from behind me. What area were you at in Fort Desoto for this image?

[John Rowell]

Thanks Jim, I was at North Beach at morning low tide. From the northernmost parking lot, across the footbridge and as you head north there is a pool on the right hand side. This spoonie just stayed there feeding the entire 2 hours I was there that day.