NSFW Duckling Feast (Heron)

Andrew is now on a short break. "the Final straw post" has been deleted.
 
OK, back to the matter in hand......

There is a general feeling that these shots have a darkness about them - specifically 1 & 2. Truth is, it wasn't the best of days and what you see here is pretty much how it was.

So, is the suggestion that I 'adjust' things to make it appear brighter, or is it best to portray exactly what I saw???:cautious:
 
I'd leave well alone - I'm sure that you have lots of other stuff to post
 
Nicely caught, and good to see the darker side if nature, I watched a gull catch and kill a duckling a couple of weeks ago, sad but it happens
else we would be over run by ducks


BillN_33 said:
Do Grey Herons have any natural predators …….. they are a hell of a lot of them about all over Europe, Africa and Asia?
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Yes Otters will catch and eat herons if they can
 
FourRingCircus said:
Thabnks for the comments folks. I reckon #4 is one of my best ever shots but I doubt if National Geographic will be calling anytime soon!:coat:
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Perhaps they ought ......I can't advise on the processing, etc, but I'd say no4 is a potential prizewinner
 
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No 4 is good John but did you push the saturation up, (maybe a little too much for my eye).
 
The subject matter doesn't worry me in the slightest.

Number 4 is the pick of the bunch for me.
 
What an awesome set of images - yes they are 'hard' to look at - but this is nature - "red in tooth and claw" - love the story set and how you've presented them.

As for the exposure or anything like that - with a sequence like that there's little you can do as you're taking them there and then - no time for posing/repositioning.

Awesome - don't let the naysayers get ya down :)

Cheers,

Matt
 
dinners said:
The subject matter doesn't worry me in the slightest. Number 4 is the pick of the bunch for me.
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Nice to see you Phil. Was thinking about you only yesterday as I thought you'd been quiet.....I have a friend up from the south of England just now who wants to shoot pine martens and wondered where was best to go with a camper van. I've just finished an Indian with him and his other half and then sent them up Glen Esk (not for Martens though). If you have any (Sunart) locations to suggest for me to tell him, please PM me

#4 is indeed the pick of the bunch. Not sure about your new avitar though.......;)
 
Hi John

I 've a nailed on location for Pine Martens on the South side of Loch Sunart - I'll drop you a PM (y)
 
John, they do look dark and under exposed and are not to your usual standards.

Saying that, they are nature in action so you cannot set up properly for shots like this, the shots do show nature as it happens and they are a good action set. Herons are greedy buggers and I have watched them nail mallard chicks one after another, but never caught it on camera, so congratulations for getting them.

Perhaps a revisit to processing them may help, it does look like the weather and light was against you though.
 
Nature red in tooth beak and claw! Not comfortable to look at or see in front of you but it happens. Well observed and thanks for sharing. Thanks also for the NSFW tag, warning that it contains something not to everyone's taste.
 
fracster said:
Perhaps a revisit to processing them may help, it does look like the weather and light was against you though.
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I'm beginning to think this too Ade. They were shot while away from home and processed/facebooked very quickly from a hotel room. However, I think I'm going to need some assistance to get the best out of them as you know I'm not a PP fan/expert. I know #4 is a good capture, someone has even suggested a prize-winner(!) which was a bit of a shock to me. I've also had someone at my door asking for a copy of it this morning (a friend of a chap who is plastering my walls at the moment and who had heard about the heron pic from the plasterer)!

I'm not in the photography business, so I've no idea what to do about it. The only thing I'm happy about is that this particular shot has given my mind a step-up in terms of what to be aiming for. I went out earlier this morning and took a load of pics, but instead of blindly posting them, I'm gauging them against my heron and pressing delete most of the time. Got some of my best ever dipper shots though, so they might make it to the public later!!!;)

Thanks again to the folks who have given positive comments coupled with the critique which I need. I have absolutely no issue with anyone who can tell me what they see isn't quite right. I want to improve in any way that I can (other than resorting to meticulous pp).
 
Sell the pic to the plasterers mate and give me the money. You don't need it. You're loaded;), I'm not:(.
 
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FourRingCircus said:
OK, back to the matter in hand......

There is a general feeling that these shots have a darkness about them - specifically 1 & 2. Truth is, it wasn't the best of days and what you see here is pretty much how it was.

So, is the suggestion that I 'adjust' things to make it appear brighter, or is it best to portray exactly what I saw???:cautious:
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IMO the second one is the only one that is too far under ( I suspect light reflecting off the water has fooled the meter) - difficult to avoid when there isn't time to adjust manually, using spot can help, but only if the subject is in the centre of the frame which can stuff the composition. On the whole I'd just lift this one slightly in PP.

Also in #2 the herons head isn't quite sharp - it looks like the focus point may have been on the body.

Other than that a cracking set , and while is a harsh subject matter - nature is like that , and recording it shouldn't all be a matter of fluffy bunny rabbits bouncing through meadows. (The Andy Rouse set of the wilderbeest migration in the mara showing up close and personal crocodile predation , which made a 5 page spread in BBC wildlife at the time - is a classic example of great nature photography being red in tooth and claw)
 
Hope you don't mind me having a play with one of them. I haven't done much at all, pretty much just changed the colours a little bit.

10178029_10152079191786272_1666114270412306431_n.jpg
 
Fascinating shots - I think heron have been known to take at least stoats if not mink so ducklings are probably easy fare.
 
adam 91 said:
Hope you don't mind me having a play with one of them.
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I never have an issue with this sort of thing Adam. However, given the responses here, I really think I need to go back and re-edit the whole lot.
 
Pitvar said:
Fascinating shots - I think heron have been known to take at least stoats if not mink so ducklings are probably easy fare.
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there used to be a picture of one taking a stoat on WWT martin meres wildlife sighting page... however it seems to have been removed now (or at least I can't find it)
 
Hi John
A good set of images showing the nature of the Heron and it's feeding habits. I think you could well have a shot number 4 that could do well in the British wildlife photographer of the year (remember to read the rules on editing though)
What I like about it is that it is all down to the effort you alone have put in you haven't gone to where a bird has been baited into a specific area and paid to get the image. You got this one off your own back. Don't get me wrong I'm not against baiting birds and paying to get them but loads off others go to the same place and get similar images. So you should be chuffed with yourself over getting these.
Regards
Richard
 
Sorry returning to the thread to find it all kicked off.

What's sad is once again on TP, the story or context behind the images is ignored for complaints about the technical aspects of the images. There's so much more to an image than following a technical set of rules. Getting the story is so much more important, as has been seen over the history of documentary photography.

Yes the images are dark, it's been commented on, but the sequence they show and the story they tell is a powerful one and something I've not seen before, which is why I suggested a wildlife magazine would be interested.

As for the NSFW bit - there's worse on TV with every wildlife documentary. Just last weekend we have killer whales eating seals, seals eating penguins, bears ripping apart salmon, all graphic. That's life and natural behaviour. It happens so it's worth documenting.
 
Great catch, John (no pun intended). The 4th image really highlights the drama.
Although i find the fluffy ducklings quite appealing, Nature does as Nature does. I remember many years ago watching a Heron kill and eat a large rat at Cley. It may not have been pleasant to watch, but it did show the skill of the Heron as an opportunist hunter. As it tried to subdue the rat, the rat came back at the Heron and tried to bite its legs. The Heron promptly grabbed it, and held it under the water until it drowned. I couldn't believe my eyes when it swallowed it whole.
Many would have great sympathy for your ducklings, but none at all for a rat.

philip
 
Byker28i said:
What's sad is once again on TP, the story or context behind the images is ignored for complaints about the technical aspects of the images. There's so much more to an image than following a technical set of rules. Getting the story is so much more important, as has been seen over the history of documentary photography.
.
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To be fair both getting the story and being good technically are required for great wildlife photography - sure in some circumstances (combat photpography being one such) techinal matery takes the back seat to emotive content - but for something like "heron eats duckings" the exposure etc need to be bang on , in addition to capturing the story.
 
I know what you're saying but it often seems on TP that the technical aspects are the holy grail and nothing else.
 
Byker28i said:
I know what you're saying but it often seems on TP that the technical aspects are the holy grail and nothing else.
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There are more than a few people here looking past the technical and discussing the emotional side of the images too...the think is with these the issue is purely PP it can be fixed, its not like it a killer to the images, maybe we should be discussing that cause of the issue...but at the end of the day critique of technicalities holds equal importance to critique/commentaries on the content of the photo

I'll be honest I think it's wrong to criticise people for that when ordinarily there isn't even enough of that on the forum
 
MWHCVT said:
the issue is purely PP it can be fixed
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Correct!! (y)

For those that don't know, I'm not a PP fan and I don't have any proper (paid for) pp software. I've never even looked at the Canon DPP stuff that came with the camera(s).

lost said:
I think you could well have a shot number 4 that could do well in the British wildlife photographer of the year (remember to read the rules on editing though). What I like about it is that it is all down to the effort you alone have put in you haven't gone to where a bird has been baited into a specific area and paid to get the image. You got this one off your own back. Don't get me wrong I'm not against baiting birds and paying to get them but loads off others go to the same place and get similar images. So you should be chuffed with yourself over getting these.
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Thanks Richard. I've never even considered a photography competition and I'd probably feel a bit of a fraud. All I did was push a button in the right place/right time etc. I'm fortunate enough that I don't try to make a living from photography (I'd starve!), so I have no pretentions about making money or winning competitions.

There are actually a good few more shots from the same event which haven't been posted here. This was just a small selection put onto Facebok at random from a hotel room the same evening...... I'm using Facebook just now because I can't access my Flickr account any longer due to the bloody cock-up with BT and Yahoo.:mad:

I've set-up another Flickr account so, perhaps I'll have a bit of an upload fest later and see what folks think... ;)
 
Brilliant sequence of shots and a well executed capture of what happens in nature 24/7. I'm certainly not offended by this sort of thing and if I were, I'd need a jolly good pair of blinkers - I see far worse most days with roadkill etc. which is less natural than this.

I'd show this to my 3 year old son in an instant and he'd no doubt have lots of questions about it. I think that it's a good thing to stimulate a young enquiring mind.

Thank you John for the photos and sharing them.
 
I've now uploaded ALL the shots to my new Flickr account (since I can't access the old one now). They are all uncropped and unprocessed - straight out of the camera. Feel free to peruse them and see if #4 is still the pick of the bunch. I should add that there are one or two which aren't even in focus, but they still help to see the whole story unfold. The BH Gulls were mobbing the Heron which was interesting - as if they were acting like sympathetic mothers rather than protecting their own.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/122508945@N05/
 
Ever so slightly chuffed!!! :woot:

OK, so I didn't get 'Photo of the Week', but it's still nice for an amateur to be 'mentioned in despatches', even if I didn't get the Victoria Cross! :D

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Now to try to maintain the standard.........:exit:
 
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