Grey Heron with a catch

Hi,

Shot this one on sunday along the coast of river Mula. I had gone to capture painted storks which have arrived here a week back. Grey herons have been there for quite a while now.

Have positioned myself before they arrived. After being there for over 2 hours, I was able to capture this action.

Action happened quite a fair distance away from where I was located.

It was pleasure to watch grey heron dive in and come out with this fish. Then it flew across into the tree branches and finished it in no time.

Will post the images of painted stork latter.

Please critique

Canon 600D. 400mm f5.6
Manual Exposure
Manual Focus
Manual metering
Shutter Speed 1/1250
Aperture 7.1
ISO 400
Focal Length 400mm
Cropped by 45%
Handheld

Regards,
Atul

Wow that is a big catch. You captured the right moment. Nice eye contact. Its good you got the eye in clear. A higher shutter speed would have helped to freeze the wings. Is there a tilt? Wish it was closer. Thanks for sharing.

Atul,
Nice moment captured. The water splash tells the story. They very fact that you post the amount of crop makes you conscious about the subject distance and your photography. At times, there is no way to go closer. I am sure if you continue to make efforts and wait for the action to happen, soon you will get such a moment close to you. I can definitely say that your photography is going to improve if you continue your honest efforts.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Sabyasachi, I agree with you that most of my posts are large crops. I do get some full frame images but they are rare. The place I go to shoot mostly the action happens on the other side of the river and there is no way to shoot from the other side.

Regards,
Atul

Thanks Sabyasachi and Mrudul for the comments and encouragement. Sometimes I do feel the need of 1.4x extender. Its just a matter of time before I buy it.

I am studding these birds with respect to their behaviour, favourite perches and interactions. It has been a please to watch them. I have been moving across the river bank, hiding at different locations to try to get closer. Understanding them has helped me a lot to improve my photography.

Regards,
Atul