Nailed it

Another Heron shot, this time with a bit of action. I had watched this bird sulking behind a tree stump for about half an hour when it decided to walk out to the edge of the reedbed whereupon it started to stalk intently. Next thing ..wham.. it nailed a two foot eel! The eel was wrapped onto the beak when the photo was taken and is not clear at first sight but a later shot shows it extended.
My main problem with this image is the crop. Unfortunately the bird is to the right of the frame so I have had to crop out thr LH side to even it up. However to keep a rectangular format I had to lose the reflection. I have tried a squarer crop which I don't normally like and will post that as well for you to pass an opinion as to which one works best.
C&C welcome as always.
EOS 30D
Sigma 500mm
exp 1/500 @ f8: iso 320

And the square crop.

a great action shot, well captured. A shame the reeds and grasses were in the way but it obviously couldn't be helped. I don't have a strong preference out of the 2 crops, but both could do with a CCW rotation.

Matt

Great action shot. How do you eat an eel in one piece ??!!

JR

Nice shot of great piece of action. Second post for me - agree with the rotation.

Dont usually like square crops that looks much better.

Major.

Both great pictures.. I like the second one best.

Thanks all. John, I dont know how it ate that eel, I was wondering myself how he would manage it but unfortunately he went out of sight behind the reeds to do so.

Hi Robert,

Congratulations! Fantastic capture! I prefer the square crop! Smashing image!

Good reactions to get the strike. The reeds are a real shame and are just a bit too intrusive for me. The images really needs to be straightened too. Prefer the original post

Well caught Robert, thanks for advice regarding the Sigma 500, looking forward to mastering it, like you appear to have..

Robert

Great capture of what I tend to find a difficult subject I've said previously I like the environment shots its as it is. A true capture. Just mho.

Barry

Eastbourne / Kansas

Super catch Robert {both you, and the bird}

I think i prefer the original, allthough agree it needs a rotation!!

Belter

Alan

Nits covered its a good image

Dave

Good action shot - must have been quick