Cormorant with nesting material

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, Canon EF 400mm f2.8 L IS USM, EF 2xII, ISO 1600, f13, 1/4000, full frame image.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Tushar Dixit]

Superb freeze, Sabyasachi! Nice upward wing position enabling complete view of the bird. Lovely details on the outer wing too. This bird has one of the most fascinating eyes in the avian world. Water droplets are good but unnoticeable. Do you have a frame before this one (just after take off)?

ISO could have been lower as grains are visible on shadowy area. Wish light was with you and the twig a bit away from the eye.

[Sandesh Astgikar]

Beautiful shot.
Love the splashing of water.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Lovely details. It is good you got the eye in clear. The long stem drifting in the water makes the image more interesting. The wave patterns are nice. Thanks for sharing.

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Wow! Lovely freeze in flight, the eye contact is excellent. I am not sure if centered placement of bird is right. Why f13 Sabyasachi?
tfs

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Actually, I messed up this capture.

There were some school and college students who were making lot of noise. I was asking them not too as the birds were scared away. At that point this bird landed and my brain stopped functioning. Instead of dialling a positive compensation, I dialled in -2/3rd. I never look at the dial, just count the clicks. Even, when you look through the viewfinder, you can know, however for some reason, I just do it by clicks and get it right. This time, I failed. Hence, the wing facing us is underexposed.

I wanted a narrow aperture to get the entire body with wingtips as well as a bit of the ripples in the water. So the narrow aperture and ISO 1600. The noise is manageable if you get the exposure right. In this case, it was not, and hence there is noise.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi