Magpie

[Alfred Forns]

From the last trip to Wyoming finally got one Magpie !! Lots of them around but not easy to photograph !! Not sure how this works but looks sort of neat.

Comments welcome and much appreciated

Canon 50D
500 f4.0 IS 1.4X
f 8.0 1/2000 sec
Manual exp
ISO 500

[Jim Poor]

Beautiful. Love the iridescence in the feathers on the tail.

[Bonnie Block]

Wow! This doesn't even look real, Al!
It is pretty darn cool!! :cool::cool: No nits from me!

[Randy Stout]

Alfred:

Boy, does this bring back long dormant memories. As a child, I travelled throughout the west with my parents, and was always impressed by the magpies.

I think this is a very fun presentation, well exposed, sharp, good head and tail position!
Not my favorite perch, but overall I like it!

Cheers

Randy

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Alfred, I like tis one a lot. The pose with that wonder tail make this an entertaining image. Thanks for sharing.

[Aidan Briggs]

I'm not crazy about the perch, but I love the exposure, pose, and iridescence.

[Steve Maxson]

Very cool, Alfred. Love the colors and pose. Good sharpness, exposure, and background. Like the tall, narrow crop too - fits the image perfectly.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Beautiful color and detail. Love the pose and that tail is outstanding.

[Danny J Brown]

This is the best pose you could ever hope for with a magpie. I bet you were really working fast, thinking "please don't change that pose until I get the shot." That's what I would have been thinking anyways. Just an awesome shot, Al.

[David Thomasson]

Excellent, off-beat. I like the heavy perch. Works with the squared-off stance.

[arash_hazeghi]

killer is the tail position Al, lovely HA too just wish for natural perch.

[Mike Tracy]

I really like the colors of the tail and the blacks look spot on. The pose makes him "picture perfect".

I toned down and darkened the post just a smidge and I think it helped fwiw.

[Stephen Stephen]

Great image Alfred. I love the pose and the irridescent tail feathers.

I photographed a few Magpies in England during the summer of 2008 but I never got anything like this.

[Arthur Morris]

Good job with EXP, detail in the whites and blacks, and raised-tail pose. And a nice BKGR too. These guys are tough....

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Really sharp Al and great exposure. Love all the iridescence too. Love it!

[Doug Brown]

I happen to love this image. Unconventional pose, but great eye contact and iridescent tail feathers that look incredible. Your crop takes full advantage of the pose. Nice one Al!

[Sid Garige]

Perfect Exposure Al. Could not be better. Excellent job.

[Stu Bowie]

This works for me Al. I like the comp, headon angle, and of course the raised puts this over the top. Good to see the colours in the tail too. Well captured.

[denise ippolito]

Alfred, I love it. The raised tail w/ the iridescent colors and the great exposure take this over the top.

[Markus Jais]

Cool shot. I like the raised tail and the colors of it. Very good BG.
Those guys are really not easy and getting one with the tail in that pose is tough. You have a real winner here.

Markus

[Kiran Poonacha]

fell in love with the pose bhai, great expo, details and BG.. all in all a great image indeed..

[Ofer Levy]

Pose, light, exposure control, sharpness, BG are all fantastic. Shame about the perch.

[Adrian David]

Excelent pose and perfect tech's.I don't mind the perch because the magpies are living close to humans...:)

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Alfred, awesome comp and exposure. I do like the perch actually. The vertical lines go well with the vertical crop and the tail.

[Steve Zamek]

This is a beautiful shot. Not much to add, except that I like the perch here. The vertical perch, I think, complements the overall composition of the photo. The color of it is not distracting at all. And the flat surface makes possible that terrific pose. I really really like this shot.

[Rich Steel]

Surperb Job Al and one of the nicest magpie photos I have seen in a long time. Its surprising how many people think magpies are just black and white. They are tough birds to photograph but like most covids seem to be real suckers for piles of peanuts.

Cheers

Rich

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Love the perch too Al. After all if I am correct these are fairly urban birds? In that case it would pass since posts are part of the habitat. The irridescence rocks! Congrats mate. :)

[Ilija Dukovski]

Love every single aspect of it. Great composition and crop.
The best part is the proud pose and the raised tail
that is the signature of the species.

[Harshad Barve]

Can you think any thing better than this , Excellent image
TFS

[Myer Bornstein]

Having "chased" Magpies arounf Colorado and Wyoming tring for a picture. I never show them showing that beutaful tail. Wonderful picture