Osprey and (whole) fish

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

Alfred's posting on 5/2 was not only gorgeous, but his statement that it is "difficult finding fish with head" also caught my attention, especially since I'm trying to increase my knowledge of bird behavior. To estimate how uncommon it is to capture an osprey flying high with a whole fish, I did a quick-and-dirty survey of the osprey postings in BPN from April 1st to yesterday, in both Avian and ETL. Among the seemingly more that 100 such postings (didn't count 'em), I found only 9 flying ospreys with a cargo of at least a partial fish; only 4 of these had an entire fish (most recent: Peter's posting of 5/3). So, 4 out of 9 ain't bad, and this post makes it a 50/50 chance: reasonable odds, I'd say. Thanks, Al, for sharing your depth of knowledge and experience with all of us.

Nikon D3S 300 f/4, 1/3,200 f/11 ISO 3200, HH
Crop of about 60% (need bigger gun!!), rotated canvas 90 deg CW, Viveza, Sharpener Pro, Dfine NR. Shot at abt 5:30 pm and the light was harsh.

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful pose and capture. I think the eye contact is fantastic. I see some burning? spots in background by right wing tips. Might want to open up the underside just a bit on the whites. I would crop tighter if it were mine.Excellent details and an image to be very proud of.:)

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Ricardo Mighty fine looking Osprey and fish !!! ... I'm envious with the high ISO quality of that camera :) .. can lower ISO if you wish, for birds flying overhead we are fine with 1/1600 .. currently my target if possible is 1/2500 !!

Great pose and eye contact, lots of detail, can lighten the white areas just a little, particularly the face but do keep the fine detail !! Proud of you on this one !!!! ... I'm sure you wanted to keep the one little cloud but agree on tightening image !!!

[Troy Lim]

Love the stare. Looks like it was fly away from the sun.
Agree with others, a bit of brightness would be good.

Got to love that camera. I like mine too.

[Alfred Forns]

... btw the bird is probably saying ..... "Wow he has a 3Ds" :D The 3D I had was great with noise and this has raised the bar even more, just wish it had a crop factor ... which would probably kill the noise performance !!

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

Thanks Denise, Alfred, and Troy. Here's a repost incorporating your advice: tighter crop, brighter whites, and tried to eliminate the artifacts on the wing at right that popped up when I pulled down the blown whites there.

[Troy Lim]

Thanks Denise, Alfred, and Troy. Here's a repost incorporating your advice: tighter crop, brighter whites, and tried to eliminate the artifacts on the wing at right that popped up when I pulled down the blown whites there.

Ricardo, love it. Repost makes the action looks more intense.
I chuckle everytime I see the stare.

[denise ippolito]

Ricardo, I think the repost looks better:)

[Dave Mills]

I agree the repost is an improvement since the bird is now more dominant and you lightened it a bit. I like the diagonal placement in the frame...

[Lance Peters]

Hi guys
typing this from hospital on my iPhone, give me a break -- lol. All these gorgeous ospreys how do you think us mods are supposed to choose a iotw for this week, going to be one tough job.
Nice work here for sure can't wait to look at it on a bigger screen

[Troy Lim]

Hi guys
typing this from hospital on my iPhone, give me a break -- lol. All these gorgeous ospreys how do you think us mods are supposed to choose a iotw for this week, going to be one tough job.
Nice work here for sure can't wait to look at it on a bigger screen

Hospital? Hope everything is ok.

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Congratulations Ricardo. Excellent capture, great eye contact also. Re post makes it all the better.
BTW congrats on the D3s :eek:

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

Take care, Lance. I sure hope it's a very short visit to the hospital!!

Best wishes,
Ricardo

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

Thanks, Oscar. Yes, sir, I'm loving the D3S more each day!! As you can see from the techs, I'm currently experimenting with increasing the ISO to see how high it can go and still be able to manage the noise.