Heading Back In

Gallery: WildlifePosted April 15, 2011103 views6 comments

Canon EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM + 2x Extender II @ 400mm, AV Priority @ f/5.6 (1/500 sec), +2/3 EV, ISO 1000, Handheld, JPEG from RAW, Cropped about 10% from Full Frame

Here's the second of my series on the Lumpini Park Water Monitors.

I'd been watching this one swimming along one of the water channels that skirts the park until it'd apparently had enough of that and climbed back on land. Soon as it had though, something seemed to catch it's attention, my attention was totally fixed on the Monitor, so I'll never know what it saw, still, I think I ended up with a fairly nice shot of it heading back in ;^)

C & C always welcome :^)

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on April 15, 2011 at 8:58 PM

A nice shot Ashley, for me, I would like to have seen abit more seperation of the monitors head from the body, maybe if you could have shot from a lower angle. Great detail and color, I like that you caught the monitor on both land and water. Thanks for sharing, enjoying your post.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Canuel on April 16, 2011 at 4:26 PM

I like the comp of this one with the monitor looking back in the same direction as the tail. I like the little wave coming to shore. This might look nice as a pano as well taking about half of the space off the top.

Registered on September 12, 2010, 53 Posts, 660 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on April 16, 2011 at 9:39 PM

I will agree with the previous suggestions for improvement, as we know it isn't always possible to actually make the changes we would have wanted. I really like the dynamic body pose with the curved body, lifted foot and extended tongue - nice timing. The tip of the tail is missing, not too big a deal as it is somewhat oof anyway, but something I would put on the "ideally, and if I could have 3 wishes list".

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on April 16, 2011 at 11:40 PM

Many thanks for taking the time to view and leave comments John, Steve, and Gary :^)

John: I was actually squatting on a steep narrow incline close to the water's edge, to have gotten down any lower would have meant me submerging myself in that green murky water. Adventurous as I am, I didn't fancy walking through the park soaking wet for the rest of the day, hence, I tried to get the best I could from the position I was in ;^)

Steve: Totally agree that a pano would work well with this shot, and thanks for the observation :^)

Gary: In an ideal world I would be getting amazing shots with every click of my shutter, then again, I might soon get bored of that, not having Nature to challenge me the way She always seems to ;^)

I had to lower the resolution to make sure this would be under 300kb in size, but I've cropped a pano version for you both :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on April 17, 2011 at 12:55 PM

I like the dynamics of the pose and the detail of the monitor, especially tongue out. I think what would have made this stronger would have been a tighter aperture to get the rest of his body more in the focus zone. I like all the reflected greens in the water, accenting the coloration of his body.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on April 17, 2011 at 10:30 PM

Thanks for taking the time to view and leave your thoughts Lon :^)

I completely agree that a smaller aperture setting for this would have worked out better, bringing more of the tail into focus. Back then I was still learning with my 70-200 and, frankly, too caught up in the enjoyment of having an f/2.8 with which I could so effectively blur out the FG and BG, and it took me a fair while before I ventured onto narrower settings ;^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments