Country Blossoms

[Stu Bowie]

This is a longtailed widow bird. As can be seen, these guys have such a lovely long tail, and in flight, the tail hangs down. Difficult to comp, but I captured this as the wind blew, thus showing the tail nearly parallel to the ground. I liked the flowery perch, and the surrounding flowers. Maybe a bit busy, but something different. Taken over a year ago, in a small nature reserve close to my house.

Canon 20D
100-400 L IS USM @ 220mm
1/1600
F/8
ISO 400

Exp comp 0
Had Held from the car.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Oh my that's a dream bird, I must see this bird at some point in my life:)
The BG is busy but the bird takes a lot of attention so it is not bad.
I think the head is bit soft. Perhaps if you have room you could try
vertical crop with more space on the bottom. I would try to place
the tail more diagonally in the frame.
Good for you having this bird around!

[Krijn Trimbos]

Wow what a tail! Lovely setting here, I am ok with the yellow flowers in the BG and find the perch excellent! Great HT. I would suggest to move the subject so that the eye is on the 2/3, 1/3 intersection by addin some room to the top, left and right. Also on my work monitor the sky looks a bit magenta/red for my taste, but this could very well be the monitor!
Great shot!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

These birds look like American blackbirds on steroids. :) I like the setting and pose and agree regarding a wider crop.

[David Roach]

Love the blossoms to compliment this beauty. I like your composition (with more on top and bottom would be even better IMHO).

[Brian Barcelos]

I don't mind the comp at all. I might clone out the flower in the lower RC.

Brian

[Chris Kotze]

Super pose, alway great to see a post of this wonderful species. Well captured in it's natural environment and I like the comp.

[Rich Steel]

Hi Stuart

What an extraordinary looking bird. I can't envisage what one must look like in flight or even that they are very good at flying with a tail that long. You have captured the bird in a lovely setting and personally I always find it difficult to frame birds with long tails. The wider crop is definately better than the tighter one.

Cheers

Rich

[Ramon M. Casares]

Stunning species! Lovel ambient and BG, good light, great pose, detail and colors. IMO a less square crop with more room all arround would work better. Congratulations!

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great species, thanks for sharing... Loved the colourful frame, both crops work well in their own way, congrats...

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice one Stu! has to be Rietvlei :)
pity they only have those tails during mating season. you did well - love the comp, the original one. ditto head a tad soft but you can selectively sharpen that.

[Grace Scalzo]

I don't find this busy at all, just love the habitat and that tail. Thank you for sharing this!

[Bryan Hix]

I agree with keeping the wider comp. I might suggest playing with the contrast or curves to make it pop a little bit more. Very interesting bird. Nice job.

[Dave Barnes]

Always difficult to get a good comp with these guys, you have done well here Stu.
I would have liked a tad more space in front and above him. The fact that he is looking back helps.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the constructive comments and feedback. Much appreciated.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

This is a super bird mate. I love the setting, agree about the magenta cast on the sky too. I think a vertical would be a killer comp fir this! :)

[Andy Nguyen]

Stuart,
This is a very beautiful bird, and a very beautifully captured image. I think you've got a wonderful setting here that will probably allow for multiple possible compositions. As mentioned before, a vertical crop might work. Additionally, I have an idea of my own. IMHO I would like to see a more spacy frame that will show more of the OOF tannish BG, and proportionally more sky above the bird's head. Horizontally, I'd like to see the balance of the comp to shift a bit to the left. Other than that, I don't think the BG is too busy. The yellow and burgundy flowers are of lighter tones so it would not distract much from the blacks of the bird's plumage. Andy

[Stu Bowie]

Akos, Andy, thanks for taking the time to look and comment.

Andy, this was actually an old image which was already processed. I will try and find the original and see what I can do.