Wild Artistic Photography Tours And Workshops Facebook ad: “Hunter's Perch”

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Hunter's Perch We had just returned from a swim at Ningaloo with a few rather large spotty fish when, coming back into the Tantabiddy boat ramp, I noticed an Osprey flying in the distance. Once we'd disembarked, I grabbed the camera and headed a few hundred metres down the beach which is part of the greater Cape Range National Park to see if I could find it. After watching for a while, a pattern started to emerge. The Osprey appeared to be using this old post as a regular stopping point. After heading off on what looked like a search for food, it would return to the perch before either continuing towards the nest or heading back out towards the reef. I didn't see it catch this particular fish, but when it returned carrying lunch there wasn't much doubt that the previous excursion had been successful. Rather than filling the frame with the bird, I deliberately pulled the composition back. I wanted the Osprey to feel small within the scene, perched above the grasses with all that empty space around it. Wildlife photography doesn't always need to be about getting as close as possible. Sometimes giving the subject room can tell more of the story. The other advantage of watching rather than constantly chasing the bird was that I had a reasonable idea where it was going to return. Instead of trying to follow every movement, I could concentrate on the composition and wait. Much easier. The Osprey was doing most of the work anyway. At 400mm I had plenty of reach while still retaining the negative space I wanted, and a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec gave me enough speed should the bird decide it had somewhere more important to be. Settings: 400mm | f/8 | 1/1250 sec | ISO 250 Sometimes wildlife photography is less about following the subject and more about spending enough time watching to understand what it is likely to do next. And occasionally, it even comes back carrying a fish.