Great tailed grackle bath

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

40D. 400f5.6L at f/6.3. iso 400. 1/1250s. very high sun.

Something different. For this shot and the last few that I have posted, I had crawled under a small pedestrian bridge. No place to stand but quite comfortable to lie down. Water isn't flowing right now...so nice dry low spot. These guys love to take a bath there. The bridge and its shadow act as hide as well.

Wud have loved more both more DOF and higher SS here but I dont like to use high ISO for dark birds. Will definitely do that next time though.

All comments welcome.

[Stu Bowie]

All aquatic species really seem to enjoy their baths, as they always create such a splash around them, as you have captured here. Another lovely two tone BG, and of course, your low angle works wonders.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Kaustubh, thanks for sharing your story! I echo Stuart's comments about the great low angle and beautiful BG. Lovely work!

[Pieter de Waal]

Kaustubh you have captured the action and timed the water splashes and spray beautifully. Like the steely blue sheen on the feathers and of course the beautiful background. Like it a lot TFS.

[Per-Gunnar Ostby]

Lovely background, spray and action

[Norm Dulak]

Terrific action here, and of a bird most people don't regard too highly because they lack colorful plumage. But I thoroughly enjoy this image.

[Arthur Morris]

KD, Love, love, love the BKGR but nothing really looks sharp but for some of the low splashes to our right of the bird....

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Agreed, Artie. never done bath shots before. This was a trial run to figure what kind of speed is needed. went back yesterday and got much sharper stuff....but not against the same BG. will post it some time next week.

Thx a lot everyone.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW KD. One thing that I should have mentioned with bathing images is the following: AF often picks up the spray and leaves the bird soft. One way to try and combat that is to use rear focus or One-shot AF on the bird's eye when you see it dipping its breast in the water and go with that for the focus when the action starts. It often works better than AI Servo (live) AF.... Of course, if the bird changes it position while bathing you lose :)