That's What I Call A Great Catch

[Peter Ryan]

Sitting on a river bank watching the world go by when a black cormorant dived in and came up with this fish. I could not believe it when he thought he could down it whole. A kookaburra tried to steal it but the cormorant protected his catch.

He juggled it a couple of times throwing it into the air to get it elevated so it would slip down. Eventually he managed to swallow it whole.

[carregwen]

Sitting on a river bank watching the world go by when a black cormorant dived in and came up with this fish. I could not believe it when he thought he could down it whole. A kookaburra tried to steal it but the cormorant protected his catch.

He juggled it a couple of times throwing it into the air to get it elevated so it would slip down. Eventually he managed to swallow it whole.

I've seen people do that at MacDonalds...

Well caught, Peter. Question of being in the right place at the right time. Plus your photography skills, of course.

[ScoutR]

Nice one Peter!!!!

If my recent shot (in the reflection thread) was a Cormorant it is not the same kind as this one, but it does look simalar (I still think they are kind of ugly looking). I've been back 2 days in a row and have not seen him again. I had my chance. He posed on that rock for over 15 minutes. Nothing as exciting as catching and downing a fish, but I had all kinds of time for a good shot and didn't get it.

When you (or anyone else) are photographing birds what camera settings do you use for focus and exposure. I've got this 3D tracking setting that I tried, and it does not track at all. I'm not sure if it's operator error, camera malfunction or if the background and subject blended too much, but it did not seem to work for any shots that day. I had some good opportunities for a Blue Heron that seems to be getting used to me and not taking off when he sees me, but they were pretty fuzzy too.

Anyway - not to hijack your post with my ongoing problems. Great shot. I'm inspired to keep going back till I get another chance at mine

Wendy

[Peter Ryan]

Nice one Peter!!!!

When you (or anyone else) are photographing birds what camera settings do you use for focus and exposure. I've got this 3D tracking setting that I tried, and it does not track at all. I'm not sure if it's operator error, camera malfunction or if the background and subject blended too much, but it did not seem to work for any shots that day. I had some good opportunities for a Blue Heron that seems to be getting used to me and not taking off when he sees me, but they were pretty fuzzy too.

Anyway - not to hijack your post with my ongoing problems. Great shot. I'm inspired to keep going back till I get another chance at mine

Wendy

You’re not hijacking anything at all. Glad to try and help.

I normally use single area (servo) focusing and TRY to shoot for the head. I also keep my camera on continuous shooting – just in case. The eyes are important but over distance this can be an issue. I you miss by a little when taking a reading you might get a crisp tree in the foreground or background. If you use the standard camera focus setting it will normally be closest-to-camera-subject-priority and you can finish up with anything because the camera will choose the closest subject and focus on that.

Given the longer focal lengths required I normally shoot with the widest aperture I can get to maintain the fastest shutter at the lowest ISO I can hand hold for the situation.

[Blazing fire]

I've seen people do that at MacDonalds...

[ScoutR]

Thanks Peter, single area is what I usually use, but I normally don't shoot anything that's moving, so I thought I'd try this 3D tracking feature for birds, thinking that if the birds took off the camera would track them. Either it is not what I expected it to be OR the background and subject blended too much for the camera to distinguish. The focus points just kept jumping around and nothing in the shot seemed to be in focus.

I have gone back to single area now and changed to continuous shooting (toucy though isn't it) I was getting at least 2 of everything for the first few shots, but I think I have that under control now.

When it comes right down to it these birds are just too hard to capture with a 200mm, I'll keep trying though. The lake is on my way home from work, so it's a quick stop when I don't have time to go anywhere else.

Thanks for the tips, I always try focusing on the eyes. I'm glad you mentioned that can be difficult over distance because I was annoyed with my results in that respect too, but I'm always quite far away so maybe I expect too much.

Wendy

[Peter Ryan]

Thanks Peter, single area is what I usually use, but I normally don't shoot anything that's moving, so I thought I'd try this 3D tracking feature for birds, thinking that if the birds took off the camera would track them. Either it is not what I expected it to be OR the background and subject blended too much for the camera to distinguish. The focus points just kept jumping around and nothing in the shot seemed to be in focus.

I have gone back to single area now and changed to continuous shooting (toucy though isn't it) I was getting at least 2 of everything for the first few shots, but I think I have that under control now.

When it comes right down to it these birds are just too hard to capture with a 200mm, I'll keep trying though. The lake is on my way home from work, so it's a quick stop when I don't have time to go anywhere else.

Thanks for the tips, I always try focusing on the eyes. I'm glad you mentioned that can be difficult over distance because I was annoyed with my results in that respect too, but I'm always quite far away so maybe I expect too much.

Wendy

Birds can hide away from people in lakes. They are generally quiet places and bids spook easily.

Learn to identify birds and then find them in locations where they interest more closely with humans along popular river ways around boat launching ramps, etc, the beach and so on. In these locations you can get closer to shoot.

I recently updated my camera from a 6 mpx to 12 mpx camera so I still had something left to work with after I cropped bird shots. The shot of the cormorant was taken across a river some 30 meters away and cropped.

Here is the original shot taken at 300mm with Nikon's 1.5 cropp factor.

[Clactonian]

The focus points just kept jumping around and nothing in the shot seemed to be in focus.

Wendy, try switching off the VR. Yes, you read that correctly. It is not always the answer.
Mike

[ScoutR]

Thanks Mike, I think in this case I think I just interpreted the setting name "3 D tracking" too literally and I picked the wrong camera setting. I will try the anti VR if I keep having problems though, and I'll keep experimenting with some of the other camera settings when the opportunity comes up. Hope I get some more chances next week after work because I'm sure I can improve on these. Something was not working right.

Wendy