Indian Pond Heron with fish

[Atul Sinai]

Hi Guys,

Shot this one yesterday morning in Pune.
Please critique.

Canon 600D. 55-250mm
Aperture priority
Spot metering
Shutter Speed 1/400
Aperture 8.0
ISO 200
EC +0.3
Focal Length 250mm
Cropped by 58%
Monopod support

Regards,
Atul

[Bhargava Srivari]

Nice that you got the bird with a catch. Seems like the light was harsh..what time was this shot? Also, the bird doesn't seem to be in critical focus, though I am not too sure where the focus got locked. All in all, a nice moment.

tfs

[Mrudul Godbole]

Good that you got it with the catch. Quite difficult conditions to photograph, as the light seems harsh and it was against the light. Agree with Bhargava about the focus. Also it would have been good if you had got it more parallel to the frame. Since it was far, there is some loss of details. Do try to photograph in the early morning or late evening light. A lower angle would have been better if possible. Were you in a boat? Thanks for sharing.

[Atul Sinai]

Thanks guys,

It was around 8.15 in the morning but had to shoot against the bright sunlight. I shot this from the bridge. Focus was right on the eye.

Regards,
Atul

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Atul,
Nice catch.

Just check the previous post by Supreet http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7394 . Check my response in the #7.

Since you are using a short lens and the image is cropped, your auto focus point falls on a large area. So you wont get the critical focus. Please use Zoombrowser or DPP and open your raw file to see the focus point.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Atul Sinai]

Thanks Sabyasachi. Nice piece of info provided in that post. I generally use DPP to check the focus point. Sharing the screen of the image in DPP with the focus point.

Although I pressed the shutter after getting the focus confirmation light, the output doesn't look to have the quality.
Agreed manual focus could have been better. Will certainly keep that option open when I go back in the field.

Regards,
Atul

[Rajan Kanagasabai]

Hi Atul

Nice frame and picture, considering the harsh conditions.

Just wondering if a lower apreture (say around 4) would have helped diffuse the sharp surroundings a bit, while also giving you a higher shutter speed for sharpness ? Correct me if I am wrong . . .

regards
Rajan

[Atul Sinai]

Thanks Rajan. I have a limit of f5.6 with 55-250mm lens at 250mm. Also the results in terms of image quality in general are quite poor at f5.6. I get the best results with this lens from the zone of around f8 to f13. Also as I was shooting head on, went for narrower aperture to get more depth of field.

Higher shutter spead would have certaily helped the very next shot. I got the shot with beak open and fish in the space between, but dew to lower shutter speed for action and that too being a 58% crop its quality is even worser. Was very disappointed latter to have missed what could have been a good shot.

Mistake was lack of anticipation that i might get this moment, so stuck to ISO200. Was comfortable with 1/400 shutter spead for non action shot.

Regards,
Atul

Regards,
Atul