I captured this image at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. This image show the acrobatics the bird is capable of, wings forward braking, legs draggin on the water, head thrust into the water to grasp a minnow size fish. Looking closely you can see the shutter speed of 1/2500 was not fast enough to freeze the head, it has moved forward into the water showing what appears to be two eyes. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED image captured at 175mm
1/2500 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 1000, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC 2018
Cropped for composition and presentation
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Hi Joseph,
It is a fine behavioral image. However, it is a bit messy to me. I would rather have seen it a few seconds later with a fish … ; - )
Also, I would have preferred the wing to be sharp as the rest of the bird.
Steen's comments are relevant. I do like the look at the closed eye through the water. It would be a plus to eliminate the large specular highlights in the splash.
with love, artie
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