I took this photo on an early Spring morning at Wakodahatchee wetlands in South Florida. The breeding season was in full swing and this pair of Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) chicks were almost full grown, but still extremely demanding. An adult came in to land at the nest while I was filming and was completely overwhelmed, to the point where it had to take off again almost immediately. At one point a chick had the adults head in its beak. These chicks are relentless in their need for food. I took about 6 photos in this sequence and this was my favorite. I converted to black and white to add more drama.
Excellent job on catching this behavior. The conversion to black-and-white works very well. I like the shadings and the framing with the environment. You did an excellent job of getting all three birds in focus. If I were going to do anything I might cut about 10% of the left side of the frame and add that same black color to the right side so that there’s less centering of the image. There is a leaf that is somewhat brightly colored to the right of the top wing near the top of the frame. It has a tendency to pull my eyes so I would actually clone it out. Otherwise outstanding work.
I agree with David about how well the B/W works with this photo, as well as possibly removing some of the black to the left of the image. I don’t mind the branch and leaf as it seems to bring a symmetry to the image, showing the nest fully encompassing the birds. Great Image.
Great capture and shooting wide-open still gave you plenty of DOF! Love the composition in catching each set of eyes and at least one wing each. The black and white creates a beautiful focus on the birds. Bravo! Would love to know the focus points you used?
Thanks Julie, I unfortunately could not tell you the focus points. It was taken a while ago and I was so busy trying to capture the moment that I’m really not sure what they were.
Wow, this is dramatic and striking - a great example of showing a natural phenomenon in a well composed and stunning image. I do agree on cropping a bit off the left (don’t think the right needs any additional canvas, though). Well done!
The vignetting works well to spotlight some great action, which does look outstanding in monochrome. I absolutely agree that a crop is needed from the left. It’s just too much empty space dragging attention away from the action that is weighted in the opposite direction.
