Say's Phoebe

[David Salem]

Hope everyone is having a great Holiday season.

While Arash, my 5 year old son Alex, and I were photographing a Kestrel on this perch a few weeks ago, this Say's Phoebe landed on the perch that we were set up on.
I saw that it had just caught something and in a second it wolfed it down.
Not until I looked at the LCD a few minutes later did I realize that I had caught this one. Thought it was kind of fun.

1DMkIV---840mm:)---f6.3---ss1/3200---ISO640---HH from truck @3:15pm---30% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Martin Dunn]

Beautifully exposed, super detail and it looks as though you caught just the right moment.

[gail bisson]

Just awesome!
Great perch, BG, action ( the beetle is even looking the right way!), IQ and exposure.
Gail

[Loi Nguyen]

David, this is a wonderful catch indeed! The exposure and sharpness are spot on as usual, but the cricket about to be swallowed is so special. TFS. Loi

[Daniel Cadieux]

Pretty neat. Perch, BG, and action all good. Prey item is excellent, too bad it did not face this way. I feel the head is a tad soft, perhaps due to lightning quick subject motion...but the image as a whole works well despite that.

[Henry Domke]

Henri Cartier-Bresson talked about the "The Decisive Moment". I think you've captured it.
It may have been a lucky accident, but there it is! It worked.
I've always loved the decisive moment that Henri Cartier-Bresson captured in his picture: Paris. Place de l'Europe. Gare Saint Lazare. 1932
That was probably an accident too.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I appreciate it.

Daniel, I came home and looked at this file and it looks pretty sharp to me without any noticeable motion blur. The smallest feathers around the beak and the antenna on the insect look sharp on my monitor. The blur that I did notice when processing this was in the wing. Maybe that's what you are referring to. Thanks as always for your help.

Henry, definitely a decisive moment. Thanks

[christopher galeski]

nice capture,good BG and perch,the beak and insect make a great action shot well done.

[Doug Brown]

Always fun to get a perfectly timed lucky shot in some nice light!

[Frank Schauf]

Great timing, great action, David.

[Holger Leyrer]

Fantastic image David. Dramatic pose, beautiful light, BG and deatails. The bug in the beak is very cool. Congratulation to this shot

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent moment captured. Beautiful pose,nice colors and prey. If mine would crop at the bottom to give panorama crop.

Regards,
Satish.

[Gavin Slabbert]

David Excellent work, and a great capture, and excellent processing.
My one issue, and I see it a lot these days, is the over blurring of the backgrounds into this soft totally undistinguished blur, I realize that it is used to create separation but to me it is just not natural. Now if you tell me that this is out of camera like that then I will offer an apology.

Gavin

[David Salem]

Thanks again for the comments everyone.

Gavin,
I have never blurred a background in my life. Never even used the tool, maybe once or twice years ago to see how it worked. I don't love the look normally.
This background is the direct result of the lens and the DOF that is has. This is what allot of photographers strive for and purposely position themselves to achieve, a smooth pleasing background in camera. Also with this minimal focal distance, the BG will blur when the subject is only 10'-20' in front of it. That's the beauty of these super telephoto lenses, a beautiful natural bokeh.
Its one of the first things you will notice when you shot with one of these lenses. Thanks for your comment.

[Gavin Slabbert]

David then true to my word, I owe you an apology, and I hereby officially apologise.
I am however curious as to which lens use use, as I have a Canon 500mm f4, 1d mkiv, a 1Dx and the latest 1.4x converter, and I can say that I do not get that soft of an effect.

[Daniel Cadieux]

David, excellent if it is sharp on your monitor as it is a neat photograph. Perhaps it just needs a touch more sharpening there to bring out the fine detail for web posting...

Gavin, these BGs are pretty easy to achieve...the easiest being if photographing in a grassy field or farmland with it as the background.

[David Salem]

Thanks Daniel. I will try a little more sharpening for web posting. Keep trying to make sure I dont add too much, especially with closer shots.

Gavin, Daniel is right about distant fields making a great BG bokeh.

I will mention that I purposely try to position myself so that the subject is in the right position to give me the best possible BG.
It takes some patience sometimes to reposition yourself while you are hoping the bird dose not fly away. You have all the right gear so try moving yourself around a little and keep thinking about the BG almost as much as the subject.
Sometimes it is only a foot or two that can make all of the difference in a nice shot. Hope this helps. Thanks for your comment but you didnt have to apologize.

[Doug Brown]

David then true to my word, I owe you an apology, and I hereby officially apologise.
I am however curious as to which lens use use, as I have a Canon 500mm f4, 1d mkiv, a 1Dx and the latest 1.4x converter, and I can say that I do not get that soft of an effect.

Hi Gavin. I can vouch for David's truthfulness, as I've shot this location with him. Distant BGs and long focal lengths are the key to smooth BGs such as this one.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image David! I like the timing, cricket, BG and composition.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent shot, I have exactly the same frame (I was sitting behind Dave) and BG is 100% natural, I get BG like this all the time, with a fast long lens and especially full frame camera smooth BG is given unless you shoot from too far away.

[yogesh_puranik]

Excellent moment captured David. How are you doing, wish you a happy new year..

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the comments