Yellow-faced Honeyeater take off

[Ian Wilson]

Yellow-faced Honeyeater taking off from one of the bird baths in our garden, 10 March 2014. This is another capture made with the high-speed flash set-up described in my Striated Thornbill post a few days ago.

Canon 7D + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 1.4x III extender, three 600EX-RT flash units, RS-80N3 shutter release, Gitzo 3532LS tripod with Kirkphoto King Cobra gimbal.

Pre-set manual focus and manual exposure settings, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO 125, 1/8 flash power.

Processed in DPP: adjust brightness, shad/h'lights, saturation, sharpen, RAW-JPEG. PS Elements: remove two flash highlights from eye, crop, downsize and output sharpen.

Thanks for looking, critical feedback welcome.

[Raymond Lee]

Nice use of flash! Great HA and details! I would consider cloning out those pieces of grasses/twigs in front of the bird as well as the water droplet that's clipped at the right edge of the frame.

[Marina Scarr]

This a super cool image. The water droplets are awesome, and I am glad there weren't any obstructing the eye. The pose is just amazing, and you did a good job with the flash. For printing, I would probably remove the larger twig in the FG.

[Ishmeet Sahni]

Really like the spray of the water droplets. Good use of the flash.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the concept and execution of the image. Super well done, and an appealing result. I agree with the twig removal suggestions.

[Shawn Zierman]

The water action is superb...I like how the droplets cover the whole frame. Fairly serendipitious that there weren't any big droplets covering the face/eye area(!)

[Joe Senzatimore]

Love the action in this. great job with the flash set-up.

[William Dickson]

Fantastic action shot Ian. Love it. Well done :S3:

[David Salem]

Very cool. Love the colors and the even water spray throughout the frame. Sharp and clear. Lucky that the face is exposed from the water well. Well done!

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Killer stuff Ian. You're posting some of the best bird bath/pool shots I've ever seen.

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for your generous and helpful feedback. I have noted comments about editing out the light-coloured needles in the foreground and will keep a lookout for this issue in subsequent posts captured using this set-up. Regards, Ian.