African Fish Eagle 2

[John Harper]

Hi There

Similar shot to the one I posted a couple of days ago showing Othello the African Fish Eagle "fishing" at the Hawk Conservancy Trust here in the UK.

This was shot with my more usual 500mm lens as I was trying to get tight on the birds face with a large splash of water behind. I quite like the view along his L-H wing and the out of focus water behind him, and was fortunate to get focus on the eye, as with the 500mm you have very little depth of field when shooting close to wide open.

John

EOS 1DMKIII EF 500 F4 ISO 400 1/2000 @ F5

[Maxis Gamez]

Love the behavior but I have mixed feelings about the crop!

[Alfred Forns]

I like tight crops but with this action keep wanting to see more !!!! Must have been fun !!!

[Lana Hays]

John
My first impression mirrors Alfred and Maxis.....love the action but I'm just not sure about the crop.

[Desmond Chan]

Good details and exposure. I also have concern about the crop. I prefer to see the bird flying straight towards you with the big splash of water covering the entire background. Personally I also prefer to see both wings intact, too, especially from a perspective as presented. But, understandably you had certain situations that you had to deal with when you took this shot.

[James Salywoda]

I'm a fan of your work but this one isn't appealing to me....It sure has alot of detail though.....

[Dave Mills]

I think most agree the problem is with the cropping. You have the subjects head very close to the left side of the frame where it is in the process of leaving the frame. It's a good point compositionally to try and leave room in front of your subject to give it a place to go.