Green Backed Heron Fishing

[Stu Bowie]

Been really hectic at work, thus my absence for a while. During my visit to the Kruger National Park in mid March, I was parked alongside a large dam just outside our camp. It is hit or miss where one decides to park, as once you are there, engine turned off, you cant keep starting your engine to move here or there to achieve a better angle. You are also going to frighten off anything close to you. I was lucky that this Green backed Heron decided to fish on my side of the car, but he would not give me a better angle parallel to my camera. I have other images with a reflection too, but I quite liked the protruding tongue in this. Taken very early morning.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 + 2X TC = 600mm
1/1600
F/7.1
ISO 800

Hand held from the car.

[Alison McCoy]

Beautiful image. Love the warm golden light you have caught on the bird. Lovely work Stuart.

[Thinus Schoeman]

Beautiful image Stu, excellent exposure and detail. The raised claw takes this up a notch. The calm water surface makes for a nice background.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Great shot, Stu! Unbelievable that anything behind a 2x TC can deliver a shot this sharp - it just shows the combined quality in this combo! Well done, a keeper for sure!

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Great capture, Stuart. Nice early morning light and BG. Got to admire their concentration.




Geoffrey

[Girish Prahalad]

caught it in the stealth mode. great light here along with IQ, colors & exp.
you have already mentioned the limitations for getting a better HA.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback everyone.

[David Salem]

When the light is right, they come out tight!! This one looks great Stuart. The bird is covered perfectly and I really like the concentrated stare with the raised foot and the tongue sticking out. Well done

[steve torna]

If I may agree with everyone; beautiful pose, light and quality. The background is pleasing and compliments the bird.

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous! I'd like to see the bird a little higher in the frame, though. If there is no more canvas below I'd consider some cropping from the top. The reflection is lovely but serves to increase the weight at the bottom of the frame with nothing going on in the top part to balance it. With the bird's horizontal posture, a pano crop would work well.

[sasan nejadi]

great shot and excellent light and detail..... But a bit of high angle

[William Dickson]

Beautiful lighting Stuart. It shows the bird real well and it is captured well. The details are perfect with just the right amount of sharpness. At first. I thought the bird's head was turned away from us, but on looking closer I noticed it was the tongue giving that impression. Great work

Will

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Stu fantastic light and IQ on this one , very well done .
I like the pose and the overall tones and contrast , i might loose some of the top of the frame because from my POV it does not add much to the image .
Your waiting really paid off with this frame.

TFS Andreas

[Bill Dix]

Lovely light and a great hunting pose. I'm fine with the way he's focused on his task. Techs good on all counts.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent stalking pose captured in beautiful light, Stuart.

[Glenn Conlan]

Great feeling of anticipation for the stalk the tc combo worked great with the special light.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the feedback and comments. Always appreciated.

[Andre Pretorius]

Love it, Stu!

[gail bisson]

The light is special!
Nice stalking pose. Just wish for a bit more of a head turn our way but not a big deal.
Good IQ as well
Gail

[Grace Scalzo]

What a nice image, Stuart. While I normally prefer a head turn toward the viewer, the hunting pose negates the importance of that for me here...the story is in the action. Well captured.

[Satish Ranadive]

Marvelous image.
Love the frame, Stuart Sir.

Regards,
Satish.