GBH w/ big meal slo-mo

[Andy Nguyen]

Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 lens with TC-17IIE 1.7x on the D300, hand held, Manual exposure mode, ISO 1000, 0 EV, f8, 1/1600 sec.

You all probably have seen this hunting/feeding technique before. I had envisioned this shot to be one of those "slow motion" wildlife videos. My points of focus were the Heron's eyes and the texture of the water. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the look in the fish's eyes moments after being speared.

C & C would be greatly appreciated.
Andy Nguyen

[Dave Phillips]

nice behavior image Andy......tough call on the composition, but might work the eye
a bit brighter as well as the fish eye and body rainbow colors.

a slo-mo video would be great!!!

[Sid Garige]

Excellent timing, details and exposure. Wonderfully executed. Would like to see little more of heron. IMO that would make this a complete package.

[Brian Barcelos]

Andy, I don't mind the crop at all. I especially love the frozen in time water splash. The look on the fish's face is priceless (poor guy).
Brian

[Chris Kotze]

Well timed and excellent action captured

[Julie Kenward]

I also don't mind the comp/crop but more of the heron certainly wouldn't have hurt. You have wonderful color in the fish and heron - I'd like to see you try to pull a little more blue into the water.

Great action on this image!

[Scott Frye]

I wouldn't change anything -- great as posted.

[Juan Aragonés]

Wow, the timing is fantastic. Love the action and the eyes of both animals, the water splash has a very important role in the composition and I like it a lot. I would add just a litle bit of more room at the left. Very good job visualizing the image that you wanted to get and waiting for the right moment. Way to go ;-)

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Excellent timing, details and exposure!!!

[Morkel Erasmus]

great patience, it paid off! stunning shot! the droplets, the fish speared, both with eye contact. stunning shot! is it a rainbow trout that was caught?

[Harshad Barve]

This is so good, Excellent image
Harshad

[Ramon M. Casares]

I agree that a bit more heron to the left would be nice, but honestly I didn't mind the crop you've chosen the scene and natural moment are so powerfull and stunning! Great soft light, wondefull details and action and with an excellent level of drama!
Congratulations!

[Stu Bowie]

Great action captured, and the splash of water shows it. Eye to eye contact, and I would have liked to see a bit more space on the left.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

As a moment in the food chain, I like. It shows what the photographer wanted to display (I assume). Te catch moments of survival, from that perspective, it is spot on.

[Randy Stout]

Excellent image.

To expand on Juan's observation, because the splash is such an important component of the image, I think the choice to include it all and sacrifice a bit of the heron to the left was the best compromise, assuming this is full frame.

Randy

[Nagesh Mula]

Its an Amazing capture Andy, I too agree with Randy's comment on this.

[Jory Griesman]

Great shot. Nice exposure and color of the GBH, which I find difficult, sometimes. Clearly pushing the ISO to 1000 let you freeze the water, without adding any discernible (to my eye) noise, and f/8 allowed good DOF. Although I might be inclined to crop a bit off the right, I'm ambivalent, as it would break up the splash, perhaps not ideally, and I do like it as is. A couple of other posters mentioned it might have been better to include more of the heron - was this possible, or was it cropped to exclude undesirable elements?

Jory

[Andy Nguyen]

I would like to thank everyone for their comments, suggestions, and points-of-view.

Since this was a moderate crop, I had plenty of room to spare on the left. I have gone back and tried a different crop according to your suggestion. After carefully comparing the two, I still feel that the initial crop concentrates more on the action. Any more of the Heron (and subsequently, more gray water) would distract from the intended primary subject.

[Arthur Morris]

Spectacular as presented. The capture and inclusion of the whole splash is the bomb. As you have more room to the left, I would love to see a repsoted pano crop.

When you post an image, please let us know exactly how you metered.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Such a beauty execution this is... great action captured...Congrats....

[Andy Nguyen]

Spectacular as presented. The capture and inclusion of the whole splash is the bomb. As you have more room to the left, I would love to see a repsoted pano crop.

When you post an image, please let us know exactly how you metered.

Thank you very much, Arthur.
Since it was cloudy, I took a sample of the grey water at 8mm center
weight and matrix metering mode.

Andy

[Andy Nguyen]

Such a beauty execution this is... great action captured...Congrats....

Thank you Kiran. Do you see these Herons in India?

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you very much, Arthur.
Since it was cloudy, I took a sample of the grey water at 8mm center
weight and matrix metering mode. Andy

Thanks Andy. That makes sense. It is important to know your equipment. With my MIII bodies, I would have needed to add about one stop of light to the metered exposure.