Great egret, snapping turtle, bug & flower (fun day at the park)

I had to put in a few hours at the office today, so I decided to get in a little photography before work. I got maybe my best bird-in-action photos, a nice close-up of a snapping turtle I almost stepped on, and a bug and flower macro.

This egret was stalking around the pond and snapping up something to eat every 30 seconds or so. I thought those must be the dumbest fish for not fleeing, but then I realized he was eating bullfrog tadpoles, who don't seem to know how to get out of the way.

The egret was photographed with the new Nikon 80-400 AF-S mounted no a D7100. In spite of the extra reach of this lens, I still had to crop. The images may be a little too "stretched".













And then on to hunt down the next victim.



I was so busy looking for bugs to photograph that I almost stepped on this good-sized snapper crawling around in the grass by the pond. It was relaxed enough to allow me this uncropped close-up using my 90mm macro.



And finally the bug and flower. I really need to work on my composition.

What was bothering me was there are two pictures in the last picture. circle pictures are hard to get composition . Except in this case, the bug was in a good position, The rest are good. The fast shutter has made your pictures.

dock said:

What was bothering me was there are two pictures in the last picture. circle pictures are hard to get composition . Except in this case, the bug was in a good position, The rest are good. The fast shutter has made your pictures.

Click to expand...

But by now I would've cropped down to maybe 1/4th the image. I need to do better work in the field and try to fill the frame with a good composition.



thanks for responding.

Nice set! I like the egret fishing series, especially the toss shot, #6. I'm blown away by the full-frame snapper shot and glad you didn't lose any fingers or toes in the process. I'm impressed that you managed to nail the focus on the eyes. I agree that the flower/bug/flower shot represents a composition challenge. Having multiple focal points may not follow composition rules, but in this case I think it works and provides a little more information about the scene you encountered. Interesting shot.

John