Hoopoe with breakfast

[Kalin Botev]

Hi everyone,
I posted this one on the Eager to learn forum and the good people there said its time to graduate to Avian J. I hope you like it.
Any advices are welcome and much appreciated.

Nikon D3, 300 mm f/4 + 1.4 TC, @ f/8, ISO 1600, 1/2500.
PP – levels, local colour and brightness adjustments, unsharp and high pass mask, because the images was a bit soft, the image is about 70% of the whole frame, because I did not want to get too close to the nest.

[Gerald Gardebled]

Nice background and colors. Good capture of the hoopoe in flying action.

[keith mitchell]

Bird ,bug and Bg all look really good to me, hard for me to nit pick but the long piece of foliage coming from the rock does draw my eye a little bit, just my personal take of course, it's a cracking image that I would have loved to have taken, very well done.

Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Kalin, good advice to leave the nest and enter into the Avian Forum, you 'learning curve' will soon accelerate very quickly now and contributing to treads too, will also help.

Love the overall colours and position in frame and the techs look good too, keep that SS high. Bug in the bill, wings fanned out, legs poised to land all add to the content of the original capture, nice one. Not a great lover of the vertical stem, tends to catch my eye a wee bit., like Keith, but if this is ongoing work, then things can only get better. Keep up the hard work. :cheers:


the image is about 70% of the whole frame, because I did not want to get too close to the nest.

Are you using a hide?

TFS
Steve

[dankearl]

The bird and the bug look terrific. Not a big fan of the comp as I don't like the rock perch, but that is preference.....

[Bill Dix]

I don't believe I've ever seen a Hoopoe flight shot like this; certainly not one with a bug! Excellent shot with great background and wing position. I'd evict the small foliage right next to the rock, and perhaps the taller stem as well. Congratulations on your graduation; I look forward to more.

[adrian dancy]

I absolutely adore this image. Given what you have, the image design is near perfect and I would definitely leave the stalk in on the LHS since it helps to balance out the image. I would have wished for a bit more vegetation where the stalk is, but this was beyond your control and it is no deal breaker. There does appear to be a bit of noise on the bird but not too much. I can see this as a good candidate for publication in some of the European birding magazines and if the quality holds up to a suitable sized print then it would be worth entering it into a competition IMHO. Nice work Sir!

[Jonathan Ashton]

I think this is excellent, I like the setting and the timing is spot on, I am looking forward to seeing more of your work.. and welcome to the forum!

[Kalin Botev]

Thank you all for the kind words and advices!
I know I still got lots to learn and appreciate your help. As I see the issues are mostly about the distracting plants at the background. I am not much into adding or removing stuff from the image but I will keep that in mind when composing my frames. Most of the time conditions are far from perfect but that’s what it is.
@Steve Kaluski – here is the story behind the image – I saw a hoopoe looking for a nest in a pile of rocks in early spring two years ago but there was not an option. So at the end of the next winter I went to the same pile and built a nest with some wood and rocks and covered it with more rocks. The hoopoes liked it and settled in. I started shooting when they started feeding their young. Usually I go there before sunrise (4:30 am), lay on the ground covered with cammo net and vegetation and wait for the light and hoopoes to appear. I make sure to leave when the birds are not around. But I got the best pictures when there are local shepherds around because the birds are more cautious and use perches before going to the nest. When I am alone and virtually invisible they go straight to the nest or move around in the grass.
@Adrian Dancy – I have images with more vegetation and flowers from about 2-3 weeks later. I will post some in the future. Just have to choose one.
Thanks again,
Kalin

[Daniel Cadieux]

Welcome to the Avian forum! Fantastic high-impact image with great colours, sharpness, IQ. I'm torn on that stem...perhaps it's the height of it that catches my eye...if only it had been about half as high. Still a superb image worthy of the accolades!

[Gabriela Plesea]

Warmest welcome to the Avian Forum, Kalin!

You already know I love this frame, so once again thank you so much for sharing, keep up the good work and keep posting please!

I look forward to seeing more from you:5

Kind regards,

[Marina Scarr]

Firstly, welcome to the avian forum.
Secondly, I LOVE THE STEM!!!
Further, this image is one heck of an opening image. I love everything about it. The action/behavior is amazing. Love the raised wings, raised crest, raised tootsies and the prey. Of course, the near wing could have been extended even higher but let's not get picky. I think the rock works great b/c we know the bird is going to land on the rock to eat its prey, and it's a unique "perch" from what we are used to seeing. I love the "stem" b/c it helps to balance the image.
This image ROCKS!!!

[John Robinson]

All been said. Very good work allaround. I would leave the sem in for balance.
Welcome too.
JohnR

[christopher galeski]

Excellent image,dont mind the stem on the left,nice light and colors.great flight pose with bug.well done and welcome.

[David Salem]

Told you :)

[gail bisson]

This is lovely.
I like the BG colors very much.
Bug puts this over the top with that great wingspread.
I am in the camp to trim back that long stalk on the LHS as it pulls my eye away from the lovely hoopoe.
Gail

[Kalin Botev]

Many thanks for the warm welcome to all of you!
I’ll do my best to share some more images and I hope you will like them, too.
K

[Don Lacy]

Kalin, So glad you posted this here it is a wonderful image and needed a bigger platform.

[arash_hazeghi]

welcome to the forum with a great post, lots of good comments above

looking forward to more