Great Blue Heron with a fish...

[jprzybyla]

Dottie and I got out to the nature reserve last Thursday morning. I captured this Great Blue Heron shortly after it had caught a fish. C&C welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

I am suppose to do what with this fish...



All right I will try...



Trying...



Almost gone...



Down the hatch...



Gulp...



Another Great Blue Heron leaping into flight...

#1



#2

[Brownbear]

Joe, incredibly beautiful images.. #8 could be on the cover of a magazine... May I ask what iso you used for this last image and if you needed to do any noise reduction?

Thank you.

[jprzybyla]

Hi Christina, thank you for viewing and commenting. Here's the story on that heron... I had approached it trying to get close enough and I flew away to land on a wooden post a short distance away. From him doing that I knew he was most likely to fly again. So as I slowly approached I switched from aperture priority to manual because I wanted the shutter speed of 1/2500 and f8 for the aperture. I let the camera select the ISO which was 1100. I also pre-focused on the bird so the camera was near focus when it jumped into flight. I also had to zoom in from 300mm to 125mm to keep the bird in the frame. It jumped into flilght (all birds jump when they take off, something to anticipate when they will fly), I got off 3 frames before it's back was to me with it flying away. The first had the post in it blocking a leg, the other two are posted here.

[Brownbear]

Thank you Joe... Very helpful to know... One day I hope to capture an inflight heron shot just like yours, so I've memorized your reply.

Did you have to do any noise reduction or was the photo fine as is because the exposure was spot on?

[John 2]

An excellent series Joe, each one a gem in its own right but the story telling of the first group is icing on the cake.

[terrib]

Another great series, Joe. I love that second one. that fish has a face!