Mark Winter  


Lunchtime by Mark Winter

December 2019 - Lunchtime

About the Image(s)



Deion:
My wife and I kayak most Saturdays in Jug Bay from spring through fall, in Maryland, which is part of the Patuxent natural water park. We came upon this Heron, and you could tell that it was looking for a snack, so we settled in, quietly floating along waiting for the right moment. Fortunately I was able to capture the point when he snagged a fish. A few seconds later he flew off to his nest.

Settings:
This was one of the last outings I did with my Nikon before I switched camera systems. Nikon D810 with a Tanron 150-600mm, shot at 420mm, hand held (from the kayak :-) ). ISO 1250, 1/1250th shutter, F11. In retrospect, I wished I would have sot a little more wide open, just to get better separation of the bird from the background, but I think it still worked out. and, with active birds you usually don't have a lot of time. Really just some basic processing, including the tone curve.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted




 
Mark, what a great capture! And to shoot this hand-held in a floating canoe at 420mm is remarkable. I appreciate your "if only I had..." comment since these kinds of action images don't allow for a lot of fine-tuning of camera settings. I wouldn't want to count the number of my failures to have the best setting on a moment's notice. Your image's sharpness and DOF are outstanding. The 1/1250 shutter speed captured the moving action. My only post-processing suggestion would be to crop some of the water in the FG, maybe up to the bird's reflection and move the left border inward to tighten the frame. Short of this minor suggestion, nice shot!   Posted: 12/10/2019 09:57:49



Richard Matheny   Richard Matheny
I will agree with Mark. Floating around in a tippy canoe is not my idea of a solid shooting platform so you are to be complimented on this capturing image. I love photographing the guys because they are usually busy and their color is wonderful. The 1/1250 sec. of shutter speed is good. I am finding that to be my minimum speed for birds. I love the green foliage and the reflection on the water. I personally don't have a problem with the Cropping. I like it that you have given the Heron some room in front. I also think the water movement is part of the story of this image and needs to be seen. If I was going to make any changes it would have been with the Aperture setting. Maybe a setting giving a shallower DOF would have given you some really nice Bokeh and therefore would have added some contrast between the Heron and its surroundings. It's a great image Mark. Good work. Do you have a life vest for you camera ready for the next trip?   Posted: 12/11/2019 11:24:28



Larry Treadwell   Larry Treadwell
The Great Blue is one of the more colorful of the large wading birds and generally makes for good photos and you did a good job with this one. The composition is solid and you handled the reflection quite well. I do agree with Richard that the 1/1250 is near the bottom of the acceptable range for freezing bird action (1/1000 is my basement shutter speed). Richard also mentioned background blur and I agree that it could be better. However, your bird is pretty close to the background so a smooth seamless blur is out of the question. Unless I'm looking for flight shots I try to shoot this species at around f5.6 to soften the background. If I'm trying for flight then your f11 is a minimum but for a side view you can probably get away with a more shallow f-stop. When I'm in my kayak I keep the lens set at 1/100, f5.6 and use auto ISO so I can just pick up and shoot and not worry about settings (this is a trick I learned from Steve Perry)

As for cropping, I would crop out the bright leaves just above the bird and the bright leaf in the upper left corner. They are bight enough to attract the eye and draw it away from the ain subject.   Posted: 12/14/2019 13:20:42



Michael Weatherford   Michael Weatherford
Really nice shot. I think the background is sufficiently separated from the subject, but you could try decreasing the sharpness of the background. In Lightroom I would use the adjustment brush. The position of the bird is very good in the image - if you don't want to crop any more try a little dark vignette or selective darkening to make the light-colored leaves less distracting.   Posted: 12/16/2019 19:25:38



 
Thanks all for the comments! I have actually taken a lot of the comments and have re-processed the photo.   Posted: 12/24/2019 07:20:23



 
Very nice capture of this Blue Heron Mark. The colors and contrasts are subtle and evident for sure. Iwonder if the leaves could be a little darker or richer in color. I do like the position of the bird in the image as it is not spot center which adds to the depth and the reflection in the water is an added touch!

The body of the heron is sharp, but the head seems a bit fuzzy at least along the crown. Beautiful color in the eye, and you have caught it with such an intense look with his catch. I too would agree with cropping a bit more from the left and top just to remove those highlighted leaves.

I have to shoot a few frames with my Tamron to get the image I am looking for. Because of its length, I always feel wider is better. However, I have pretty much succumbed to f/8 for most shots, especially in this type of light. As with Larry's comments, Auto ISO is excellent and I will shoot in Av priority so all I have to adjust is the aperture. Let the camera work for you, especially when shoot wildlife. Landscapes don't move..... Wildlife does LOL..

  Posted: 12/25/2019 08:26:05



 
Todd,

Thanks for your comments. I was taking a closer look at the part that you thought was a little fuzzy. I think that the head and most of the neck are wet from getting the fish, so the feathers are all matted down. FYI, I took everyone's inputs, which were great, and came up with this updated image.   Posted: 12/25/2019 13:58:27
Comment Image
 
Mark.. That makes perfect sense. I didn't even think about that and I should have being that the water is still rippling. Looks like new glasses are in order for me this year.   Posted: 12/27/2019 20:09:09