Red-winged Starling takeoff

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

This guy caught me a little off-guard as it took off just as I released the shutter. At first I believed it was a total failure but in hindsight it was advantageous as it exposed its beautiful wing colors which only shows a red line on its wing in a resting position. It was taken from inside the house with an ugly concrete pillar to the left, therefore the tight crop.

All C&C's welcome.

A little sharpening & eye lit up a bit in LR.

Nikon D600
AF-S Nikon 300mm f/4 ED-IF + TC14E II
f/8 | 1/2500s | 500 ISO | Handheld

[Randy Stout]

Tobie:

Wonderful take off pose, display of red/orange on wings.

Wish the light angle had been a bit more over your right shoulder to give better illumination to the body and tail. I think the sun angle tends to be even more important for dark birds, as they need some light to help show much detail.

The crop does give the image a bit of a static feel, as do the strong vertical lines, but it sounds like you had not choice.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Tobie, great extended wing position, and I like how you have captured the moment of the feet just about to lift off the perch. Yep, sometimes we have to crop tighter to suit an undesirable BG.

[Bill Dix]

Great take-off moment, and I love the red wings. The sun wasn't your friend on this one, and the head seems a little soft or motion-blurred.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Impressive wings with those orange primaries. Good exposure on the subject, but that meant that the bright sunlit perch got blown. I agree the head is soft from subject movement (notice how sharp the feet are in comparison). Your reflexes were good it getting the fast take off!

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice take off. the BG isn't ideal here and the harsh light didn't help you either, as mentioned the head shows motion blur

TFS