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Ken Watkins
04-19-2009, 05:14 AM
Taken in Nxai Pan Game Reserve, Botswana, 11th March 2009

Same bird as my last post before taken later in the sequence.

EOS 1D MkIII

500mm F4 IS Hand-held

F6.3, ISO 800, 1/4000, EV +1/3rd

Reason for high ISO was to try to achieve a fast enough shutter speed to capture the wasp being bashed against the termite mound. This did not work very well.
Randy Stout
04-19-2009, 05:56 AM
Ken:

Great timing again. I really like the strong diagonal, the environmental tie in with the termite mound.

I took the liberty of a couple minor tweaks to try and give the image a bit more punch, without being gaudy.

Set the black point, gaussian blur on background, brought eye up just a bit, and cropped a bit from top to accentuate the diagonal.

Thanks so much for sharing these guys. Nothing like them in Michigan!

Cheers

Randy
Juan Aragonés
04-19-2009, 10:27 AM
Perfect timing and composition Ken. The wasp is a terrific bonus.
Mark Dumbleton
04-19-2009, 11:48 AM
Great moment captured Ken, although the image is too noisy that it is distracting.
Excellent timing!
Stu Bowie
04-19-2009, 11:55 AM
Very well timed to see the catch between the beak Ken, and love the diagonal posture. Randy has done a good job on the BG. Still a species I need to capture.
Randy Stout
04-19-2009, 11:57 AM
Mark:

At least part of what you are seeing in the background is bad bokeh, not just noise. The bright, out of focus highlights are what I found so distracting, hence my changes in the repost.

Randy
Axel Hildebrandt
04-19-2009, 02:52 PM
Great moment captured and I like Randy's repost. The blurred BG looks more pleasing.
Ken Watkins
04-20-2009, 05:31 AM
Having taken all of the most welcome comments into account I am trying again.
Having experimented with higher ISO on the MkIII I have to admit that they only work well when there is some light, rather than the dull conditions we had.
Charlie VanTassel
04-20-2009, 07:13 AM
This last repost is the best so far IMO. I would use the dodge tool to slightly lighten the eye. What a great photo!
Ken Watkins
04-20-2009, 09:08 AM
Charlie,

Thanks for that it just goes to show that I am learning well from this forum.

Now I will have to figure out the dodge tool!