You Die, I Live

[Craig Brelsford]

A Japanese paradise flycatcher does a spider death in a coastal forest on the Yellow Sea in Jiangsu, China. This shot is from October, migration season. It was a poignant scene. We pretty much watched the flycatcher arrive in the "Magic Forest," a stand of locust trees planted on a levee. The bird was clearly exhausted. Now, migration has always been exhausting for birds. But one couldn't help but wonder how much the lack of forest left along the migratory route was causing his fatigue. I watched as the flycatcher, after resting up for a few minutes, went right to work refueling. He caught, killed, and devoured this spider, then dozed off right in front of me. My camera documented the moment. I have chosen to display this shot, not in spite of the blurry head, but because of it. No shot in the series captures the violence and speed of the moment better than this one. What the shot lacks in beauty I hope it makes up for in interest (the Japanese paradise flycatcher is classified as "near-threatened") and action.

Device: Nikon D300
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal Length: 600mm
VR: ON
Aperture: F/4
Shutter Speed: 1/320s
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 400
Exposure Comp.: +0.67
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Center Weight
Subject Distance: 15.0 m
Photoshoppery: I cloned out several sticks. Noise reduction on blurry parts.

[Randy Stout]

Craig:

Very good description of the events.
It helps explain the photographic decisions.
I certainly would have been tempted to bump up the ISO to give yourself some more flexibility here on shutter speed, but if your intention was to show the blur of motion during the attack, you have succeeded.

I think this could work well with a series, showing the bird stalking the spider, then the decisive attack.

It is harder for it succeed as a stand alone image, without the detailed description you provided.

I like the soft background.

Cheers

Randy

[Joe Senzatimore]

Always great to capture a rare/endangered species. Nice story attached , which does well to explain the lack of "perfection". I think this image tells the story you wanted it to very well. On a tech. side , I might take some off the left side and try to get rid of the blurred stick running through the center of the image.

[Stu Bowie]

Craig, your introductions are always so informative, and thanks for that. I like how the pose follows the line of the perch, and well timed to capture the spider in mid air before he went down the hatch. I would maybe take a tad off the bottom, and about half off the top. Just a thought.

[Craig Brelsford]

Craig:

Very good description of the events.
It helps explain the photographic decisions.
I certainly would have been tempted to bump up the ISO to give yourself some more flexibility here on shutter speed, but if your intention was to show the blur of motion during the attack, you have succeeded.

I think this could work well with a series, showing the bird stalking the spider, then the decisive attack.

It is harder for it succeed as a stand alone image, without the detailed description you provided.

I like the soft background.

Cheers

Randy

Useful insights, as always, Randy. When I saw the flycatcher with the spider, my first instinct was to deal with the backlight. After adjusting the exposure compensation, I turned my attention to getting closer (I started the series about 25 m away, but got to 15). I could have been pushing the ISO up as I was moving in.

When I examined my shots and decided to start a thread, I knew that I would need to use my writing skills. The quality of the shot is not high enough for it to stand on its own; it needs to be in a series (as you insightfully pointed out, but which is impossible on this forum), or, what is possible, livened up with a good story.

This shot, in other words, is more a documentary of a rare bird in action than a piece of art.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Craig, I too enjoyed your story. I agree that this would work really well as a series but I love the head blur and sense of action that this imparts.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thx for the story Craig. Nothing substantial from my end to add. Loved the BG and the feel.

[Arthur Morris]

Neat tale but with the blurred head and the rest sharp this one does not cut it for me. Thanks for sharing.