Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

[Chris van Rooyen]

Hi guys, just arrived back from a week in the Kgalagadi. One of the jewels of the place is this little bee-eater, almost out of place with its sparkling colours in the arid desert environment. I experimented here with a natural look, i.e. without fill flash. I will also post a similar image with flash for comparison purposes. Your comments are always appreciated.

Camera Model: NIKON D3
Date/Time: 2009:06:23 16:38:44
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 1250
Lens: 600mm
Focal length: 850mm

[Morkel Erasmus]

it pops really nicely Chris and I agree the colours stand out very well against the arid environment. super exposure and pin sharp - as usual. love how the perch and bird can be put on the Golden Mean starting at bottom right corner.

[Dave Barnes]

Chris this image has stunning natural colour and light.
The eye reflection looks great, can you see any detail at full size? (could be a reflection of you?)
I dont see the need for flash here.

[Lorant Voros]

Hi Chris,

Very nice bird. I ike the cropwith the pearch ending in the corner. Love the colors and the pose as well. I don't think it needs any flash, but looking forward to see your upcoming posts. Congrats.

[Mital Patel]

fantastic Exposure
beautiful light
superb colors.

NR on bg is required to me.
some cut line while cloning on bottom right is clearly visible you should clone again out that.

rest awesome.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Exposure, details and eye contact look good. The perch has a slight blueish cast on my monitor, I might give it a bit more room and I agree with Mital about smoothing the BG at the bottom. Please do post one with fill flash, it will be interesting to compare.

[Stu Bowie]

Good job with the high ISO Chris. Amazing colours, sharp, and there was no need for a flash in this. Would still like to see the comparison.

[Mark Dumbleton]

Beautiful! Lovely sharp detail, and colours - like the natural lighting without flash. Comp sopt on!
Well done Sir!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Great looking bird.

Love the careful placement of the bird in the frame. Is the perch that blue in the reality?

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Awesome image. The colors on this bird is just gorgeous. I see some horizontal cloning error on the bottom. Easy to fix. Located in my favs collection for sure.

Szimi