Maria Small  

A Big Breakfast by Maria Small

January 2025 - A Big Breakfast

January 2025 - Maria Small

Original

About the Image(s)

I was on my morning walk recently at the TriCity Park which is very close to where I live and
where I often see shore birds hunting for their breakfast at the manmade fishing lake. This
snowy egret caught my eye because it had just caught a big enough fish. As I was shooting, I
observed with much amusement that it continued moving around and turning the fish very
carefully and deliberately so he’d be able to swallow it head first. It took a good minute before
the egret finally swallowed the fish.
Shot the image with my Sony A7III and my 50-400 mm Tamron Lens. Settings were f6.3,
1/1000 s, ISO 500, at 273 mm.
I did the processing in Adobe Photoshop. I cropped the image, adjusted the exposure a bit,
decreased the highlights, increased the contrast, vibrance and texture. I also darkened the
background some and removed some of the distractions.
As always, am looking forward to your feedback.

6 comments posted

Bruce Benson   Bruce Benson
Hey Maria, nice catch and story about the turning of the fish to get it down. It is amazing how big a fish they can swallow. I have a few suggestions for you that you may or may not like. 1. the legs are cut off right at the bottom of the frame and at the ankle. Generally it is suggested to not crop or cut off at a joint or near the edge of the frame. 2. To my eye a lower perspective would give more of a birds eye view. This would require getting down low, not always possible but will also through the background more out of focus. 3. You nailed the exposure managing to not blow out any of the whites. The angle of the sun is creating some shadows on the head, neck and tail. Using adobe raw I isolated these areas with the brush tool and wasa able to lighten these areas a bit. Keep in mind that you are the maker and these are only suggestions, Bruce   Posted: 01/04/2025 16:27:06
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Maria Small   Maria Small
I appreciate suggestions 1 and 2, Bruce, and will keep them in mind when I'm out and about shooting images, and suggestion 3 during PP.   Posted: 01/05/2025 18:57:26
Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
Maria, since the legs are already chopped for being underwater, perhaps a portrait presentation is in order. I like how the shadow of the fish projects on the white feathers. These wadding birds can swallow a whole shoe !! This is not a snowy egret, they are smaller. This guy is the typical great white Egret.   Posted: 01/04/2025 16:44:36
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Maria Small   Maria Small
I really like the portrait presentation, Isaac, thank you for offering this suggestion. And I appreciate your clarification between a great white egret and a snowy egret.   Posted: 01/05/2025 18:51:37
Adrian Binney   Adrian Binney
Maria - I don't mind the cut off legs, but the closer crop above also works. But I like the drops of water in front of the bird - enhancing them with clarity is worth considering. But Bruce's work in lighting the head makes a very worthwhile difference. You have a nice image here with good feather detail and a sharp clear fish in mouth.   Posted: 01/16/2025 14:50:13
Richard Goldenberg   Richard Goldenberg
Maria - Wonderful image. Here's another crop to consider. I particularly like seeing the disturbed water in front of the bird - it seems as if the bird plucked the fish from that disturbed water moments earlier. This crop tries to direct the attention to the bird and that disturbed water. I also used Lightroom Classic to do some minor color alterations mostly to emphasize the shadow of the fish on the bird and the ripples in the disturbed water.   Posted: 01/16/2025 17:45:37
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