Sometimes when there is a flurry of activity, you get some lucky shots. I have heard it quite often that getting a good image is all about the light. And I sure do agree with that. But what people don’t really write about is the fact that being in the right place is a big help. And luck is probably a very under-rated and understated ingredient.

It was getting close to 6pm at Sattal with the light dropping when the bulbuls (Ashy & Black) decided to make an appearance. Now, these are two extremely pretty birds and when they appear there is always the dilemma of which one to focus on.

The Black Bulbuls did not perch this time around and kept making these quick dives into the stream from a bush nearby. This made my decision easier and I decided to focus on the Ashy Bulbuls since they were using the perches.

When this guy decided to use this perch I shot off a few pics. My focus, at this time, was just on getting some nice profile pictures of the Ashy Bulbul. And since there was so much action happening all around us I was focussed on trying to capture as much as I could and was not chimping (a colloquial term used in digital photography to describe the habit of checking every photo on the camera display (LCD) immediately after capture).

When we went back for the day and I downloaded the images onto my mac, I discovered this lucky frame. I call it the X-factor.

Nikon D7100 | 600 f/4 | ISO 1600 | f/5 | 1/1250 | uncropped | noise reduction using Neat Image