Shag - Courtship Behaviour

[William Dickson]

Canon 1DX
f/4 500mm with 1.4
f/8
1/1000
ISO 800

I was sitting near the edge of a cliff on the Isle of May when I saw this bird flying towards me, with, which I thought, was nesting material. When it landed I realised it was near to a female, and this was a gift to her, which she accepted, then a courtship ritual began. I couldn't get any of the bottom half of the bird, in the frame, as it was hidden by a rock. I thought about cloning around the eye area, but decided to leave as is.

Will

[Tim Foltz]

I like it, nice green eye poking out from behind the nesting material, good BG, sharpness and exposure.

-Tim

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Beautiful Image. I like the exposure and the clean out of focus Background and Green Eyes.

I would have added a bit more space on the left side of the bird.

Thanks for sharing

[gail bisson]

I really like the way you cropped this.
Love the curved lines in this image.
Good POV and DOF.
The greenery adds that needed pop of color.
Good call on not cloning vegetation near the eye.
Lovely BG and the light worked well for this black bird.
Gail

[Melissa Usrey]

Beautiful photo of a beautiful bird!

[Mike Poole]

No problem with the slightly covered eye from me, its all a natural part of the scene. A very nice portrait, different from the normal shots and all the better for it.

Mike