Scissor tailed flycatcher

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

40d. 300 f/4L non-IS. 1.4x. 1/2000. f/5.6. iso 400. 70% crop.

All critiques welcome and appreciated.

KD

[Subharghya]

Beautiful Bird .. Very Beautiful BG which complements the bird very well .. I feel you can crop some space from left .. A lovely image in all

[Stu Bowie]

One of the longest tails Ive seen on a bird. I like the detail and colours on the bird, and what a lovely red eye. I like yellow flowers spread across the BG. I would leave the comp as is.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

beautiful pose/eye contact and fantastic bg!!!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool bird, I like the sharpness and colorful BG. I only wish for a bit more eye contact.

[Doug Brown]

It's always nice to photograph one of these guys sitting on something other than a fence. You got a great BG too. What would take this photo to the next level would be better eye contact IMO.

[Brian Barcelos]

Only thing I'd change is taking about half off from above the birds head. Congrats

Brian

[Rohan Kamath]

I loved everything about this image...especially the BG...the composition works nicely for me here...

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, you are the third person that has told me that its hard to get a shot of one thats not on a man-made perch. I was in a small grassy patch where there were no fences :-) And May in Dallas means flowers in the grass.

The biggest challenge I faced was approaching them as there was no cover. Hence, I had to settle for shooting from far. The other problem is that they sit with their back to the sun. I guess that helps them spot the flies.

For those who dont know, this bird is pretty common here in Texas and Oklahoma in the summer as they come here in large numbers for nesting. They winter south in Mexico. The "scissor" tail is seen in flight usually.

KD

[Keith Bauer]

Very nice image. As noted, great background. I'd be tempted to crop a bit from the top

[Lorant Voros]

I love this bird and I found it very difficult to frame. You did a really nice job here. Love the pose, the BG, perch and the feel of the image. Big congratulations.

[Arthur Morris]

I love the COMP as presented. And the BKGR is very sweet. Several folks mention the desire for more eye contact. I think that I know what they mean, but I am not sure. As captain of the HA Police, I will say that Section 14B of the HA regulations state the following, " When a bird is angled away from you the very best head angle almost always features the head perfectly parallel to the imaging sensor.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thx everyone for the comments. The bird does seem to be looking over my left shoulder.

Artie...I will read the section aloud to the bird next time:-) I'd have preferred it that way too...but the dude flew off immediately. There's a shot of him flying away on my website. I'll try and post it here some day.

I have some with a better HA but the BG is more cluttered in those.

KD

[Harshad Barve]

beautiful image , I am loving that LONG tail
TFS

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I do like the crop as is. Nice BG and awesome long tail. A tough framing challenge for sure. You handled it very well. Thanks for sharing. :)

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful Bird KD, The Bg looks great, loved the extra space too.. congrats....

[sree.kumar.h]

Nice composition. Long tails are quite challenging for composition and DOF. You have done really well here.

[Arthur Morris]

The bird does seem to be looking over my left shoulder. Artie...I will read the section aloud to the bird next time:-) I'd have preferred it that way too...but the dude flew off immediately.
KD

Hi Kaustubh, Such is the life of a bird photographer. Having nnot been there when you pressed the shutter button, we can only critque what we see :). Even if what we suggest was not possible at the time, such suggestions can help with future improvement.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Arthur, I had said it jokingly. I have learned so much about HA and all other aspects of bird photography on this site. I appreciate everyone's help.

KD

[Arthur Morris]

I was referring to the fact that the bird did not give you the pose that you wanted, not to the fact that you were gonna read the head angle rules to it. <smile>