Flying Heron and Flying Fish

[Stagecoach]

Today I went out for my first attempt at capturing herons in bright afternoon sunlight and found a group of around twenty wading offshore too far away for the 300mm. Sitting there on the seawall in the sweltering heat I watched as one by one they decided to leave with the occasional one flying close enough to track and snap.

This is the best of the bunch (ok, I'll be honest, the others are rubbish) but what a catch

I'm pretty sure his beak is closed and he's dropped that flying fish

1/800s, f/6.3, ISO200, 300mm, Uncropped.



For info, shot in Aperture Priority, AF-C (BBF), EC = +1EV, Matrix metering, AF Area Mode Dyn 21 point, No VR. I later went to Manual mode, Auto ISO but no decent sized subject.

Comments and suggestions welcome as always.

Grahame

[bnnrcn]

Hi Grahame. I like the composition and the details on the wings and the feather of the bird. I wouldn't know it was a flying fish if you didn't mention. It looks kind of translucent.


PS. I don't think it is easy to compose such a framing with moving objects without cropping at all, special congrats for that

[Stagecoach]

Hi Grahame. I like the composition and the details on the wings and the feather of the bird. I wouldn't know it was a flying fish if you didn't mention. It looks kind of translucent.


PS. I don't think it is easy to compose such a framing with moving objects without cropping at all, special congrats for that

Hi Binnur,

It was the two translucent parts that look remarkably like the wing-like pectoral fins of the small flying fish that hang out here that I based my assumption on at first but having now blown it right up it may be the tail fin of a much larger fish.

If the fish wriggled out how come his beak is closed and the fish is ahead of the beak? Where's the bird experts

The framing I can assure you was absolute luck, no question. One lesson I did learn today is that there seems to be a very clear learning curve with these flying beauties;

Step 1, attempt to get entire bird within frame............................................. ............Step 10, get bird in frame in the correct position and in focus

[bnnrcn]

Grahame, why you are so succesful at your first attempt is that you are good at photography. You have good technical knowledge and you apply it to every type of photography. Because you know what to do technically ,whatever you shoot, it usually comes good. When I first joined CinC you were uploading macro shots , as far as I remember they were waterdrops and they were so nice. Then you started uploading very nice landscapes. And now, the flying birds. You are also good at PP work and you point out the PP artifacts in the images which most of us can't even notice.

Your images are good examples of how having and using the technical knowledge and making the effort work wonders.

[Rebel]

Nice shot Grahame, lovely detail in the birds wings. Maybe the fish is blurred as its trying to wriggle free?

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[Stagecoach]

Nice shot Grahame, lovely detail in the birds wings. Maybe the fish is blurred as its trying to wriggle free?

Thanks Matt, I'm now thinking he may not have wriggled free but come apart.

[Stagecoach]

Very nice.

Thank you John

[NorthernFocus]

..If the fish wriggled out how come his beak is closed and the fish is ahead of the beak? Where's the bird experts

It just looks like the blurred/OOF off-side wingtip to me.

[GBO25]

I like the shot Grahame especially the way its starboard wing is so nicely spread out but I agree with Dan above, I reckon it's the port side wing tip that's got some motion blur to it.

[chauncey]

very clear learning curve with these flying beauties

The learning curve is based on keeping them in the viewfinder...which is a neat trick itself.

The crop that you display really shows blur which may result from a slow SS...make it 1000-1500.

[Whistletown Wilds]

Tough shot to get (nice )but in my option it needs to be cropped!

[Brownbear]

Hi Grahame,

+1 to Binnur's comment.

Beautiful light and colour, gorgeous detail in the wings, great timing to capture the fishy moment, and great job getting so close! A faster shutter speed is indeed very helpful when photographing birds in flight.

[marlunn]

Grahame, its a great shot but, sorry, I would go with Dans explanation - its the port wing tip not a fish

[Stagecoach]

It just looks like the blurred/OOF off-side wingtip to me.

You are correct Dan and it's something that did not occur to me at all, perhaps due to being stunned by actually capturing this on my first short attempt.

[Stagecoach]

I like the shot Grahame especially the way its starboard wing is so nicely spread out but I agree with Dan above, I reckon it's the port side wing tip that's got some motion blur to it.

Thanks Graham,

[Stagecoach]

Christina and Chauncey

Thanks for commenting and I'll cover the similar tech aspects together (to save my typing)

The crop that you display really shows blur which may result from a slow SS...make it 1000-1500.

A faster shutter speed is indeed very helpful when photographing birds in flight.

On my next attempt I will try and push the speed up but am also very aware that my D300 is not the best for noise and even with this shot as I would describe as very well exposed at ISO200 I came across noise on the bird when very slightly raising the shadows. As exposed (no clipping) histogram way to the right the background was basically white so I reduced the exposure slider in ACR 0.2 and then raised the shadows minimally.

I'll need to do some more experimentation.

As for any blur in this image (apart from the left wing tip) the appearance may be due to the lens for which I had to remove significant CA (purple fringing) and this old Tamron at its max is not going to be good. Hopefully I may be able to get it stopped down a bit to help.

[Stagecoach]

Tough shot to get (nice )but in my option it needs to be cropped!

Thanks for commenting Sherwood.

Cropping is an option but I set myself a target in that I aim for any image to have acceptable quality to me to be displayed at 1300/1400x wide. Cropping this one would be pushing it too far.

[Stagecoach]

Grahame, its a great shot but, sorry, I would go with Dans explanation - its the port wing tip not a fish

Thanks Mark,

[Brownbear]

Hi Grahame,

Indeed you'll have to figure out what ISO you can get away with your ideal exposure. Don't forget that any noise/speckles you see in the blue sky (common with high iso's) can easily be reduced without touching the bird. With my Sony 200 it was 400 and with my Nikon D80 it was 800. It's always a challenge with birds in beautiful but typically low light.

Christina and Chauncey

Thanks for commenting and I'll cover the similar tech aspects together (to save my typing)





On my next attempt I will try and push the speed up but am also very aware that my D300 is not the best for noise and even with this shot as I would describe as very well exposed at ISO200 I came across noise on the bird when very slightly raising the shadows. As exposed (no clipping) histogram way to the right the background was basically white so I reduced the exposure slider in ACR 0.2 and then raised the shadows minimally.

I'll need to do some more experimentation.

As for any blur in this image (apart from the left wing tip) the appearance may be due to the lens for which I had to remove significant CA (purple fringing) and this old Tamron at its max is not going to be good. Hopefully I may be able to get it stopped down a bit to help.