Breakfast of a Champion (Great Blue Heron & Fish)

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

40D & 400 f/5.6L


7 in the morning, ISO 3200, f/5.6, 1/350 sec, just shoot and hope for the best []. The trout was so big that it took this GBH over 5 minutes to swallow it down, and when it succesfully swallowed the trout, it couldn't fly away!.


ISO 3200 of the 40D is quite usable if you run your image through a noise removal software and if your image is not underexposed and heavily cropped. I used a nearby tree stump to rest my 400 f/5.6 to reduce camera shake. With a big catch this GBH couldn't move much, this allowed me to use a slow shutter speed, I shot a burst of 5-6shots and picked out the sharpest one. Iused Noise Ninja to clean up the noise.Please let me know what you like and dislike about this photograph.


You can view a larger version of this photograph here http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=8486619&size=lg


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[Jessica Robinson]

Wow, I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the reduced noise - when I saw ISO 3200 I was surprised at the relatively small amount. I've heard good things about Noise Ninja but have never tried it. I hardly ever shoot over ISO 800 (also I'm working with a 20D, so I'm sure the newer bodies handle the noise issue better)...but obviously there are times when the situation warrents it. Anyhow, great capture, can't believe he got the whole thing down!

[S Deam]

A agree, very nice capture and a very good example of what's possible in low light. We have Blue Herons around us, but they are easily spooked. I have never been able to get a shot like this! Iappreciate thewonderfuly birdcaptures you are showing us.