Pied flycatcher

[Rich Steel]

Hi

This is a bit of a continuation of my last post as the pied flycatcher is another summer migrant species that can be found in the oak woodlands of west Wales. I was told of a site by a friend where there has been a long-term study looking at the effectiveness of placing artifical nestboxes in the woodland. It was then just a simple matter of locating a nest box, watching it for a while to see which perches the incoming birds were using and concealing myself nearby.This photograph is of the male bird.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/fly.jpg

This photo was taken with the 1Dmk2N and 500mm lens (handheld as I had accidently left the tripod at home!!) at ISO 400 1/320s F4.5 0.33 EV.

Cheers

Rich

[Arthur Morris]

Lovely image--great COMP and head angle, and quite sharp, but this is way, way too dark as presented...

later and love, artie

[Rich Steel]

Thanks Artie. My fault with the dark image which was due to my original post being linked to the wrong image. My original post has now been edited with the correct image.

Cheers

Rich

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find, pose and details. It seems to have a slight (magenta?) color cast and could go a bit brighter.

[Daniel Cadieux]

it has a nice "rain forest feeling to it![/quote]

My thoughts too, and I do like it dark this way. Beautiful perch!

[Glenn Bartley]

For me the image is quite a bit too dark as posted.

I'd try something more like this:

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3825/flyhr7.jpg

[Jacqui Hendry]

Hi Rich,

Good on you for seeking out and waiting for the bird
He is a lovely little creature and you have great detail in the feathers,the blacks & whites are IMO exposed perfectly, the perch adds to an overall lovely composition,
As for the background being dark, It doesn't really bother me at all as it was taken in a wooded area, but now that I have seen a lighter version, I have to agree it does improve an already lovely image.

Jacqui

[Rich Steel]

Thanks for the replies and the repost Glenn. I guess if being accurate, the colour of the bird would be somewhere between the two posts as the black on them is very intense. It was quite light limited on the day of the visit under the woodland canopy and overcast conditions. I will definately be heading back for another go this May.

Cheers

Rich

[Linda Robbins]

Hi Rich -

I agree with you that the best look will be between the two posts, nearer the darker one. Lovely perch, perfect pose, and good composition. Well done.