Snake & Fish

As part of the Summer Environmental camp (organized by IIT Chennai) a group of us volunteers were taking a bunch of 40 noisy school kids on a field trip this morning through a swampy marshland on the IIT - GNP campus.

We came across a snake (don't know what snake) which had caught a fish, a lot bigger than itself and was struggling to eat it up. 30 minutes into the ordeal and it had just managed the head, when we left it alone . .

500D, Sigma 170-500 APO, f6.3, 800 ISO, 1/80 (hand held)

regards
Rajan

here is another snap from a different angle . . .

Interesting images. I think they need a tad more sharpening. How is the 500D?

Apana

Oops, you nailed me. . . . that was a typo . . . it is the 400D :)

Rajan,
Nice moment captured. How did you spot it? You don't find a snake eating a fish too often.

The shutter speed was too low for your lens. I wish you had a tripod with you there. Some of the kids may not have really understood the importance of this and would know years later when they start moving out with a camera like us.

I was also wondering how you got the new 500D so soon.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Frankly, it was one of the kids who saw this first . . . . it was actually on the underside of a large overgrowth / shrub and the yellow color caught her eye (by the way, the snake is supposed to be a Yellow checkerd keel back)

Yes, the light was too low under the shrub. Even after bumping the ISO upto 800, opening the apreture to max all i got was a 1/60. The ground was also slushy and sloping and hence not sure if the tripod would have helped (maybe the monopod would have). I knew the sharpness would be lost due to the handholding (though the IS was on), but this is more for the record :)

Rajan

Rajan,
In that situation, you have to push the tripod legs firmly into the mud and then use mirror lockup. I have done that in the past to get sharp shots. However, I have got mud filled into the tripod legs. I don't know if one of those kids can stand still for you to rest your lens on someones shoulder. The shutter speed was very low. Despite our best efforts, a number of times we find our images a bit soft due. So in those situations you need to increase the contrast and do some sharpening. It will look much better.

I like the composition of the first one.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

NB: Next time I will definitely turn up. :-)

Well captured Rajan!

very well captured action sequence...

Very well captured. Lovely moment... TFS. I too have smilar one... will upload that soon.