African Spoonbill

[Stu Bowie]

There are more than just kingfishers at my favourite location in the Pilanesberg national park. This spoonbill was busy fishing close to me, so its not often that I have to say that I had too much glass. This is full frame, and I havent added any canvas.
Taken the same morning as my kingfisher post of the other day.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 400 F/2.8 + 1.4 TC 560mm
1/6400
F/5.6
ISO 800

Exp comp 0

[Satish Ranadive]

What a wonderful details in whites you have got , Stuart Sir.Excellent image with spectacular pose and very nice HA.
Love the way it pops up against beautiful blues, water rings in FG and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent exposure and eye contact

[christopher galeski]

nice ,good exposure,sharpwith plenty of detail.

[MohsenVahedipour]

Great light & wonderful details. Very well exposed.

[Girish Prahalad]

lovely light, exposure & details. the eye pulls you in to the image.

[Marina Scarr]

Killer exposure on the whites. This bird is truly gorgeous and love it against that blue BG.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:
Sharp, with excellent exposure. I love the two toned bill, coy look.

I suspect this was as low as you could get at this location. Was this from a hide?

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

I suspect this was as low as you could get at this location. Was this from a hide?

Cheers

Randy

Thanks Randy. Unfortunately, not able to get any lower.
The location is as follows. When one arrives in the parking area, there is a wooden walkway extending about 80-100m over the water to a large hide. The walkway is about 5m above the water. The walkway is protected with wooden sides around 5 foot in height. Most of the shots are actually taken from this walkway, as the trees/perches are on either side of the walkway. One can shoot from the hide if you want to look back to the trees/perches, but the morning light is at the wrong angle. Looking out infront of the hide is perfect for an afternoon shoot, but Im long home by then. The Spoonie was basically in the water below the walkway, thus the angle. Hope that explains this location. From the parking area, there is no access to any of the water, as it is full of crocs and hippo's. Outside of the parking area is open bush where the big 5 roam, so not really advisable to take a walk away from your car either. :w3

Thank you everyone else for the feedback and comments.

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details and sharpness.

[vishaljadhav]

The dark blue water really sets up the spoonbill nicely, great details on the bird
Whites are fantastic here
First time for me to see this one, and a great image here

[Shawn Zierman]

I enjoy all the details in the whites of the bird and how they glisten in this light quality. I also enjoy the sweet bill design on this species, and the bill's coloration. Water drip on the end of the bill is a nice detail.

[gail bisson]

Hi Stuart,
You nailed the exposure on the whites.The bird is so clean and with such a beautiful healthy bill.
Fabulous details and love the pink, red and blue.
I know you can't get lower but this would have been awesome with a lower angle. Can you lie on your belly on the walkway?
Gail

[David Salem]

I have to agree Stuart, awesome exposure control which in turn has given you wonderful feather detail. Great colors on the face and bill and I like the dark water background.
Very nice!

[Stu Bowie]

Can you lie on your belly on the walkway?


Thanks Gail. You can lie on your belly on the walkway, but as mentioned above, the sides are protected by wood, so one cant really stick a lens through the gaps, as they are very, very narrow.

Thanks a stack to everyone for the feedback and comments. Always appreciated.

[Doug Brown]

The whites have a luster to them that makes them glow! Excellent detail. Angle a little steep, but I suspect you couldn't get any lower.