I take a break from fish, it's steak night!

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

This image was taken at El Dorado Regional Park in Long Beach, CA. Since the park is infested with gophers, the great blue herons, great white egrets and black-crowned night herons lend a helping "beak" to clean up those pesky gophers.:)

40D & 400 f/5.6L, f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 400, taken from my truck's window.

Thank you for viewing and commenting.

Nate,

[Andy Nguyen]

Nhut,
This image looks a lot clearer here than it did in your previous postings elsewhere. The exposure is perfect on the whites. The comp also works for me. Soft BG is great. One thing I would have done is try to bring out the detail in the dark regions, esp. the gopher's face to put the image over the top. Well done!

I haven't been to the ED for a while. :)

Andy

[Dave Barnes]

I like the detail in the white feathers, great exposure. I would have preferred it if he was looking towards the camera.

[Jay Gould]

Nhut, what a perfect demonstration of eye contact from from the eater and the about to be eaten! Perfectly sharp - love the eye and bill area. The whites show all of the detail and the BG compliments your image. I agree with Andy about lightening the gopher.
Looking forward to seeing more of these beauties.

[Ryan Lambert]

Yip this really works very well for me, super exposure and comp and the BG is very striking off-seting the subject very well. Even the detail of blood on the beak adds to the image...

[Markus Jais]

Great shot. Very good exposure and detail in the feathers.
BG is perfect.

Markus

[Kiran Poonacha]

Lovely close up, the prey add well here, a better head angle would have made this a killer.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Nate,
First thanks for your comments on my shot in PN forum!
This is such a dramatic shot, it sucks to be a gopher, sense of helplessness can been seen in the poor creature's eyes :( BG is super and sharpness is great, I do wish for a slightly better angle but that's very minor, I also agree with comments about lightening up the gopher, both eyes have detail. Very impressive, congrats :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The image really tells the story, sharpness and BG look good, and blood on the bill adds to it. Adding to the other comments, I might give it a bit more room on the left.

[Erich Stevens]

In addition to all other comments, the detail in the white feathers put this one over the top for me. Great work!

[DanLim]

Total control of the exposure: nice details in the whites, lovely BG. Quite rare to see this kind of kill. Congrats!!

[Ramon M. Casares]

A tad better head angle would've been great, but still, this is stunning! Great GREAT natural moment, lovely light, excellent expposure, superb colors and BG and nice detail. The blood in the bill is a very nice plus.
Congratulations~.

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent exposure, pin sharp, and like the evidence of blood on the beak. I really like the colours in the BG. Great capture Nate.

[Fabs Forns]

Wow, terrific capture, only improved by a better head angle.

[Raymond Barlow]

fantastic image Nhut... awesome detail, and all natural situation.

[Grace Scalzo]

Very interesting! Here are my 2 cents. I do not mind the head angle. The eye is nice and sharp and the bird is looking at its prey, not interested in you. I was immediately drawn to the blood on the bird's bill and that led me to notice that the dof was not quite enough to render it and the gopher sharp. Looks like you had enough ss to stop down a bit, always hard in the heat of the moment. I do not know how much of a crop this is, but I think I'd rework it to try and get the bird's eye in the upper right corner crash point, and the gopher in the lower left, thinking of the rule of thirds and give a little more room all around, especially left side. Hope this makes sense, a memorable image!

[Dave Hardcastle]

I've never seen a photo quite like this before - and that's a big achievement for any photographer.

[Gal Shon]

Stunning image.
A small head turn towards you could be nice.
I would give the bird some room, left, right and top are to tight for me.