Painted stork with twig

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The light levels were too low. From my Telineelapuram campaign.
Canon EOS 40D, Canon EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS lens at 130 mm, ISO 640, f9, 1/250 sec, full frame.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Aditya Panda]

Thank god the light levels were low, or the wings would've been frozen most probably! Its a nice feel-good sort of image of a Painted stork happily and peacefully going about building its nest.

I see that your 28-135mm got a lot of exercise in that visit, you must have gotten really close.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

In fact these painted storks nest on trees and the branches are a few feet away from the terrace. I realised that the light levels were low, and tried a few ones with low shutter speed and a few that are really abstract. Infact, I used the built in flash to freeze the body and used the 1/250 shutter speed for a bit of wing blur. I hardly use the built in flash, but in this case used it.

The painted stork was aware of my presence, but didn't feel threatened as they are protected in the village. Every year their day of arrival in the village is considered auspicious by the villagers.

[Kiran Ghadge]

thats too close. :) at 640 ISO 40d still performs well. Lovely shot.