Little Bee-eater

[Robert Winslow]

Hi Folks,
I'm brand new to BPN. There are some really fantastic images on this website.
I enjoy photographing birds in many areas including East Africa and hope to post a few in the next several days.
This Little Bee-eater was photographed in the Masai Mara
f5.0
1/1000
-0.33
ISO 400
Canon 500/4.5
Canon 40D

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome to BPN, Robert! Very nice first post. I like the angle, eye contact, sharpness and BG, the bee adds to it. I might crop a tad off the left and add a bit canvas top and right to get the bird out of the center. I would also run noise reduction on the background and desaturate the image a few points. Keep them coming!

[Doug Brown]

Hi Robert and welcome to BPN! Terrific detail in your first post, and the eye contact is excellent. Agree with Axel about trimming a bit off the left; I would take it to the shadow line on the perch. If you don't have a problem with cloning, I would remove the darkened branch behind the perch on the left. Look forward to more of your images!

[Jim Crosswell]

Great first post Robert! I would love too see one of these birds someday. I agree with the crop and NR comments.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

welcome to BPN!
beautiful details,colors,timing,bg...I might crop a tad off the left and add a bit canvas top and right!

[Lorant Voros]

Welcome to BPN; the best place to get honest critics and grow as a photographer.

Very nice first post, beautiful colors and detail. I agree with the suggestions regarding the composition.

[Danny J Brown]

Outstanding first post, Robert. Jumps right off the screen in brilliant color. Lorant gives good advice here. Try some of the things that are suggested and you will be surprised at the improvement. Take other suggestions with a grain of salt and be confident that you like it your way. And most of all, have fun!! Again, beautiful first image! Looking forward to some Rocky Mountain shots.

P.S. Check out Steve Canuel's images in wildlife as he lives in Colorado and takes some real beauties out there.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

welcome to BPN. And from your first post, looks like we will learn a lot from you. Thx for sharing. There are other forums too out there that have great photos but when it comes to educational critiques, nothing comes close to BPN. my honest opinion.

loved the pose, the colors and the sharpness. All advice above is, as usual, excellent.

[Arthur Morris]

Big time welcome and yes, a wonderful image. Love the BKGR, the head angle, and the bee. The shadows on the tail and the perch are mildly distracting but unavoidable as far as I can tell.

[Paul Kusmin]

There's a bee-eater i haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet, very nice.
I like the composition, love the pose and getting a shot of one with an actual bee is a big plus.
As was suggested, i would run a noise reduction filter on the BG.

[Richard Peters]

Lovely image although the bottom of the tail being shadow draws my eye a little. But a small nit on a lovely image :)

[Harshad Barve]

Big welcome to BPN and beautiful image to start with , Nice advise above
TFS

[Rob Drummond]

Lovely detail and golden light Robert - well done

cheers
Rob

[Betsie Storm]

Very welcome to BPN, Robert, and a real beauty as intro. Love the bee-eater plus bee, feather detail, lighting. Please keep sharing!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Big welcome and a beautiful first post Robert. Love the lighting and excellent detail and of course the bee puts it over the top. I will certainly look forward to your future posts !!!!