Critique Welcomed Fighting Moorhens

[Lee Webb]

Taken at 3200ISO to ensure a high enough shutter speed after the sun had gone down and it was raining. Taken with the D4 and 500mm f/4 VR. Full frame and taken hand held. Only adjustments were an increase in exposure value by 0.3 and a 10% boost in saturation. 1/1600th @ f/4. Tell me your thoughts!

 

[Glenn Clabo]

Posterific? Wonderful...right moment. Overall...just wonderful. Can you tell I like it?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Lots of energy, and great timing. I like the tonality and exposure level you've set. Makes it quite atmospheric. Good shot!

 

[David Mitchell]

I like the bit with the birds in it looks great and you have done a fab job getting the shutter speed up to freeze the motion as well as being able to see the water coming off the talon of the top bird as its in motion.

 

[Paul Lange]

I do like that with the sprays of water and mud and the suggestion that the bird on the right has been defeated. I don't know if I am keen on the green OOF rocks on the left, I find they distract me a little.

 

[Beth Carter]

wow! perfect timing and detail!

 

[Stephen McCullough]

My thoughts?
How is wow?
Seriously, good for you. That is a very very well made photograph. Impeccable timing, and it simply looks great.

 

[Jim Kuo]

As others have mentioned, the water sprays add a lot of drama. I am certainly feeling the energy and chaos of the scene.

It's also brilliantly executed, especially at that focal length and void of a tripod!

 

[Lee Webb]

Thank you all for your kind comments

I don't know if I am keen on the green OOF rocks on the left, I find they distract me a little.

I know Paul I feel the same way but at the level of competition I enter I am forbidden from cloning anything from images, and as this whole fight happened in around a second or two, I had no time to move to position myself so I couldn't see the green rocks, and if I had moved to the right I'd have ended up in a lake so... I always think true wildlife photography is making the best out of the situations you're faced with!

 

[Paul Lange]

Yeah, I appreciate that in these fleeting moments you don't have the luxury and asking the subjects to stop and move a bit to the right. It'll be nice if you could though but those pesky wild animals are just so untrained. TBH I only mentioned it because I misread the prefix and though it said critique required otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it.

 

[Hamish Gill]

I have no issue with the green rocks, in fact the oof area of the photo is pretty spot on for me. There is good separation from the background, but you have retained a reasonable amount of context - the branch(?) and more water as well as the green rocks frame the birds for me ... And I do like a moorhen... When I used to live next to the canal they used to make me chuckle!

I suspect the green rocks feeling distracting is more related to the framing, which although good, I think is a little tight to the top wing. I think if the framing included a little bit more on top, a smidge more down the right and a little more down the left the breathing room around the birds would help. That said the tightness does add to the feeling of excitement in the moment ...
Its an impressive image, if not perfect, it's a fine achievement!

 

[Lee Webb]

I have no issue with the green rocks, in fact the oof area of the photo is pretty spot on for me. There is good separation from the background, but you have retained a reasonable amount of context - the branch(?) and more water as well as the green rocks frame the birds for me ... And I do like a moorhen... When I used to live next to the canal they used to make me chuckle!

I suspect the green rocks feeling distracting is more related to the framing, which although good, I think is a little tight to the top wing. I think if the framing included a little bit more on top, a smidge more down the right and a little more down the left the breathing room around the birds would help. That said the tightness does add to the feeling of excitement in the moment ...
Its an impressive image, if not perfect, it's a fine achievement!

I agree fully, but it takes me back to my previous point - shooting with a fixed focal length lens in scenarios like this where you only have a second to react doesn't leave you with many options!

 

[Stan Hesketh]

A superb shot. Loads of energy. I love it

 

[Chris Dodkin]

How about a 4:3 crop?

You loose the green rock distraction

Each bird is now on a point of focus based on the rule of thirds

The wing of the bird on the left now points nicely to the corner of frame

The bird on the left now appears to be flying into frame to attack the bird on the right - so the tight crop at the top of frame works in your favor


The other point I'd mention is around water droplets and image sharpening.

I see similar prominent droplets on my surfing shots, and any sharpening applied to the image in general just enhances the frozen droplets to the point of distraction.

 

[Lee Webb]

That's a really interesting idea with the crop like that but I'm not sure how much I like it with the left bird missing it's wingtips

 

[Pete Askew]

I like Chris' suggestion regarding the crop Lee and the missing wing tip doesn't bother me at all. Usually a prefer less tight crops in wildlife shots as I often miss context but in this instance I think it adds to the whole.