Last year I happened to see an Osprey catch a fish on the beach and then land on the beach to start eating it. At the time, I hadn’t seen this happen before. Usually, they catch the fish and bring them high up on a building or tree before they settle down with it. But this was a great photo opp since it’s hard to photograph these birds at eye level, while also doing something interesting.
Since then, I’ve never seen this happen again. I’ve walked the beach a hundred times and sat on my balcony watching Osprey fly by countless times – but they’ve never landed with a fresh catch again. It was like lightning struck the day I was there, and would never happen again. Until Tuesday…
My wife and I were sitting on our balcony (we have a place on the beach near Clearwater FL) drinking some coffee and eating breakfast. I looked out over the water and saw a bright white “something” flying toward us. It was low on the water and too small to be a pelican. I could see it was a bird carrying a fish, and it was too big to be most other shorebirds, so I grabbed my Sony Alpha 1 which always has my 200-600mm on it, and was ready for it to fly by. Getting those eye level / low-to-the-ground photos in flight are always interesting, and you never know when another bird is going to fly in to try to take the fish.
Wind and Sun
Well… instead of it flying by my balcony, which is the direction it was headed, it landed on the beach. So I ran down with a towel and sat about 50 yards away from it for 20 minutes waiting for it to take flight again. I could have probably been there longer, since it didn’t seem in any rush and was happy enough to snack on the fish there. But eventually some people walked up to it trying to take photos with their cell phone and it got spooked. Once, it just grabbed the fish and flew about 10 feet closer to me. But the second time this happened, it decided the people were annoying, and it took flight.
The conditions actually couldn’t have been more perfect. The sun was at my back (and low enough in the sky still) with my shadow pointing straight at the Osprey. This is crucial so you don’t have any harsh shadows on the bird and so the birds wings, etc… don’t cast any harsh shadows on itself. And the wind was at my back, which meant when it did take off, it should fly almost straight at me – and it did.
Settings
The photo was taken with my Sony Alpha 1 + 200-600mm lens combo. This is my keep-on-at-all-times lens. I was at f/6.3 and 1/4000th of a second with ISO 500. I usually shoot at 1/3200th but since I had so much light and the ISO was so low, I upp’d it to 1/4000th.
I was on Continuous focus mode with a Wide AF Area and evaluative metering (which I never change). The camera locked on the eye while the Osprey was on the ground, but as usual, I’m not steady enough (especially as tightly cropped as I was) to allow the camera to track the eye in flight, so it locked on the head or the eye for most of the photos.
The photo was processed in Lightroom Classic (I just pressed Auto and I was done). It didn’t need any sharpening or noise reduction so LR Classic and a quick 4×5 crop was it. Oh and I did replace the eye, since the eyelid was closed and looked odd (yes, I know it’s technically called the nictitating membrane so no need to remind me). Since the photos before and after this shot had the eye open, it literally took me 20 seconds in Photoshop.
Another Photo and a Question
Here’s another photo of the Osprey just as it took off. I do like how you can see the sand in the air a bit. I’m sure some will like one or the other, but that’s not my question. I already know which one I like better. But there’s a bigger question I would like to hear your thoughts on.
Does the bloody fish bother you? I typically prefer the freshly caught fish, where the bird hasn’t started eating it yet and is just carrying it. But this is nature, and this is what animals do to their prey. And it’s not like I sell my photos, or I’d expect anyone to put this up on their wall whether it had a bloody fish or not.
But I go back and forth on sharing photos like this. For example, my wife looked at it and cringed which isn’t typically the response you want from people who see your photo. Especially one where I’m pretty proud of all aspects of it – framing, color, action, sharpness, background, light, etc… But sometimes we get caught up on the technicals of our photography, and we forget about the aesthetics. Kind of like insects. We can take a technically good photo of an insect, but if it makes people go “Ewwwweee!”, do you still share it? So it gets me thinking about whether I just captured a “technically” good photo and I’m biased because I know too much about what went in to the process and the result? Or is it sharable?
Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave your comment about whether or not the bloody fish bothers you and if you would still share the photo.
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Seeing the bloody fish in your photo, in my humble opinion, is what gives context to the story. You can even see a few spots of blood on the Osprey, which I think is very interesting and adds to the story of your photo. It’s the circle of life, and we all have to eat right? Without the fish, it’s just another benign image of an Osprey taking flight. Of course, you sharing the details of how you got the shot makes the image complete. Great work!
Sometimes it is difficult to get a scene in a photo or video out of your head. Maybe that’s a good thing, your photo sticking in the mind of the viewer. Some time back I saw a video of a cheetah drinking at a waterhole. It was suddenly grabbed by a crocodile and pulled under the water. In two seconds the cheetah was there and then it was gone. Now I cannot help but remember those two seconds every time I see a photo of a cheetah. Normally, these things do not bother me (I was a game warden/game biologist for 30 years), but for some reason this one did.
What a great question to ask. I imagine there’s no right answer suspecting there will always be two camps… those who view it as being an appropriately true representation of reality (that NOT showing something because it’s unpleasant is not always the best move) and those who’d prefer we censor and skip showing the not so pleasant images . How did it feel to you to post them? Maybe the answer lies there. I can say a month ago I would have been disturbed by it. Today less so after studying the daily life of my backyard hawks . Two weeks ago one of them flew into the window at my condo building and fell to the ground. He/she was stunned from the impact and fell probably 10 ft away from me. Rather than run for my camera (admittedly I was tempted), I instead froze to hopefully help him by being calm. Thankfully he was ok and flew off … BUT he left behind the chipmunk he was carrying (won’t describe its state). I was initially disturbed that the hawk killed one of the backyard chipmunks, then realized it was likely taking it back to its hungry babies who need to eat to live. I carefully buried the chipmunk in a safe area of the yard. Now when I look at images like yours in question, I see it through entirely different eyes. Apologies for the lengthy answer. It was a great question that really resonated.
P. S. Ooooooo, definitely!
Hi Matt!
I for one am not bothered at all by the bloody fish – it’s nature!
You have all the aspects of an outstanding photo – color, sharpness, action, and an Osprey with a fish!
Thanks for you comments. My initial reaction is eweeee, but then I wish I could take a picture like that. I might not share it very widely. The one taking off from the beach would be the one I would probably put up on my Facebook page. I guess that puts me as an outlier in the comments.
The fish is what makes the shot special. A shot of an osprey without a fish is more common than with the fish. In the photography and birding world, the fish likely means a better shot because it is rare. And, you got all the technical parts right, according to what I always hear from Scott Bourne’s tips on bird shots. You should ask him about the fish, too.
Hi Greg. Thanks for the thoughts. I agree that the fish is what makes the shot special. But as I wrote in the article, I prefer the fish to be whole (sometimes they have the head taken off) and not as bloody (I did already clone out some yucky stuff) 🙂 Thanks again.
I think this is one of the finest photos of an Osprey I have seen. I know it was taken with very high end gear, but the capture is awesome. Certainly share it. Wow!!
I photograph Ospreys all the time. They are also called fish hawks because that’s all they eat. I love getting shots of them fishing and catching dinner. We don’t go yuk when we see fishermen bragging with photos of their catch. Why should we get all gooey about birds. I love your Osprey photos. Wish mine were as lovely. Looking forward to your bird class!
The photo is fine with the bloody fish. It is what it was!
If this was a photo for sale in a gallery, I’d say no fish. For just sharing on social media and using as an example of your work, or in a class, I say…pretty cool shot!
Thanks. No gallery sales in my future!
It’s nature. I don’t see that much blood. I really notice the Osprey and how sharp it is.
Thanks Linda. I did clone out some of the blood and guts already 🙂
Yes share it…it’s nature in the wild. The Osprey doesn’t wear glove on it’s gallons and a hood on it’s beak in the wild, so the fish has been caught and is being eaten.