Hard banking Red Rumped Swallow

[shane shacaluga]

Whenever there is strong westerly winds, the barn swallows hang behind a big clump of eucalyptus trees and bank left and right waiting for insects to be blown in their direction.

The only time to catch them is when they bank as the slow down for a split second.

In all honesty i would have liked a more outstretched bottom wing but this gives it a more dynamic feeling

Nikon D800e
300f4 + 1.7x TC @ 500mm
f6.7
1/1600
ISO 800

50% crop end reduced EV by -0.55 as blew the white chest
Slightly darkened and NR on background and selective sharpened the bird

Thanks for viewing. Comments and critiques welcome

[Diane Miller]

These guys (if like ours) are SO fast and small -- great planning to get this shot! Very nice sharpness and detail! I like the dynamic pose and the OOF BG but I might think about toning down the tan/orange area just ahead of the wing.

[Karl Egressy]

Great capture of this speedy bird. I don't know how you do it.

[Binu John]

It's not at all easy to capture these guys in flight! Well done with the tracking and getting a BG with some variation! TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the dynamic pose, good exposure, it is a difficult shot. I agree the far wing position could be better. There is a little bit of noise on the darker feathers. I wish the BG was less distracting.

TFS

[Joe Galkowski]

Good job on a very difficult shot. I would selectively darken (Burn) the bright orange distractions in the background.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the head turn and near wing. Far wing, as pointed out, could have been in better position but that is hard to control in the these situations. I agree the orange needs to be toned. Way to spot an opportunity and go for it!

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks all for your comments

I reprocessed taking the suggestions on board and tweaked the contrast on the swallow a bit