Long Tailed Hermit

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Taken on the recent Panama IPT with Linda Robbins and Artie. The constant HB activity at the Rain Forest Discovery Centre near Gamboa rivaled the best HB sites in CR and Ecuador. The LTH's were a personal favorite with their banking flight curves and flared tails. IMO think the wasp adds another element to the image, so left it in for now, but could be convinced otherwise. Thanks for looking - C&C welcome

8 flash (Nikon SB-26) setup, 1D Mk3 500mmF4, ISO 400 Manual 1/250 f18 AI Servo Tripod mount
90% crop, ran Topaz Denoise on BKGD, selectively sharpened HB and flower

[Kiran Poonacha]

This is just Wow, loved the pose showing the tail well, great BG, Loved the colours and the wasp sure adds to this.. big congrats...

[Stu Bowie]

Interesting twisted hovering posture, together with the fanned tail. Sharp where it counts, and the comp is well balanced. The HB dominates the image so much, that one loses sight of the poor wasp. Great capture Peter.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pretty cool! I like the pose, eye contact, flower and the bee adds to it. I would desaturate the flower a few points and try to get more details in the shadows of the tail. There is a slight sharpening halo around the flower, bee and bill.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Really nice image. For me the wasp adds to your composition. I agree about desat. the flower a little.

[Morkel Erasmus]

super shot WOW! love the pose and getting the wasp in too - so sharp throughout! ditto desaturating the flower a tad...

[Keith Bauer]

Nice capture of the hummer. I like the pose of the hummer and the bee on the flower adds interest as well. I don't care for the green leaf sticking out the right side. Simple clone job to solve that problem.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This image has great impact. The wasp is a very cool addition, leave it there! The red channel is a bit clipped on the flower but it still looks alright to my eyes...you could desat the red channel on it if you wish. For me there is just a wee bit too much room at left - I would crop there about halfway between the tail and edge of frame. Hope you have some more awesome images from that IPT to share with us :-)

[Harshad Barve]

Simply outstanding image , love the pose , BG, exposure , agreed about flower
TFS

[Gal Shon]

This is outstanding !
Agree about desat the flower a bit.
I would corp a little from the left, and if the ORIG file enable it add a little to the right (to the end of the right leaf, if it's possible)

[Loukie Viljoen]

Outstanding, I like the way in which the shape of the flower sort of mirrors the shape of the tail and wings on the bird, well done

[Wally Nussbaumer]

Very nice image Peter. Good detail etc. I am detecting a slight halo over the top of everything (bird - flower). Excellent in flight pose. I am curious as to the Nikon flashes with the Canon...X sync?

[Glenda Simmons]

Congratulations on an outstanding image. I would say this makes some nice free advertising for Linda's & Artie's IT! :)

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Thanks for the comments and helpful suggestions which i'll incorporate into the final image

To clarify: the eight Nikon SB-26 flashes were used for the HB setups but were triggered by an additional flash on one's camera . I had a Canon 580EX II on the 1D Mk3.

Panama was quite amazing - hope others on the IPT share some of their photos

Thanks again for looking