Southern Carmine Bee-eater in action.

[Marc Mol]

Southern Carmine Bee-eater Merops nubicoides.
Taken on a recent trip to the South Luangwa Nat Park- Zambia.
This is my first posting here, so please be gentle ;).
Tried to make the best of what was harsh midday sun.
C & C most welcome.

Cheers
Marc

Nikon D2Xs
300 f/2.8VR
f/2.8
ISO 100
1/800s

http://africaddict.smugmug.com/photos/327131976_8dsy6-XL.jpg

[Fabs Forns]

Hi Marc and Red Carpet Welcome to BPN!!!!!

Why would you want us to be gentle with you, that wouldn't help you any, would it now??? ;)

I like your composition very much and you handled the harsh light well. Action is great too.
One fault of digital, not yours, is getting the reds and yellows a bit overcooked, so in this case, if you pull back a tiny bit on the red saturation, you may get more detail in the plumage. You can also sharpen the bee a little more.

That wasn't so bad, was it?? :) :)

Looking forward to more contributions and don't be shy to give others some feedback.
Where is home for you?

[Marc Mol]

Hi Fabs

Your right re.Red channel saturation. Have toned it down a tad.
BTW, I'm from Sydney, Australia.
Thanks for the welcome.

[Stephen Stephen]

Welcome to BPN Marc and nice capture. Fabs has given you some good advice on this image.

I LOVE Sydney by the way. I've spent time there twice but not since I got my digital kit. :( Perhaps third time will be the charm. :D

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Welcome to BPN Marc. It is great to have you here and a very nice first post. Fab has covered it all so well. and nothing to add except perhaps a round of NR for the background Really like the bee flying in mid air in front of the bee-eater. . Many thanks for sharing and we will look forward to your future posts.

[Glenn Bartley]

A very cool bird. I 'd do some noise reduction on the BG.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome to BPN, Marc. I like the pose and it certainly is a beautiful bird. Adding to the other comments, if the original is RAW you could try to tone down the bright patches on the perch with 'highlight recovery' and/or curves in your RAW converter. Keep them coming!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Welcome to BPN Marc, you present us with a fine specimen to get the ball rolling :-) Suggestions by above posters will help you get the best out of your images. Looking forward to more!!