African Darter

[Gerrie van Vuuren]

Cleaned the BG by removing some firewood & did a horizontal flip. Taken from the Mankwe hide in the Pilanesberg National Park.

1D MKIII
600mm f/4 + 1.4x extender
ss 1/400
f/8
ISO 1000

[Randy Stout]

Gerrie:

Interesting picture that made me look twice, and then study it for a bit, usually a good thing!

The bird is sharp, well exposed. The reed adds an interesting element to the comp.

I wish the illumination was a bit more even behind the eye, but the eye is very nicely lit, which is essential for me.

I might consider lightening the dark branch in LUC so it doesn't stand out quite so starkly from the background. Tends to pull my eye up to that corner.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gerrie, these guys love to play with "toys". I like the angle of the darter, and he is nice and sharp. Im not sure how long the piece of reed was, but I would have liked to have seen the other end. ( cutting it in PS may have worked ;) )

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the light, BG, eye contact and sharpness. I find the part of the body too small and might go for a wider crop.

[Tony Whitehead]

I like the colours, sharpness and light on the eye and inside the mouth, Gerrie. Reed is a nice touch and adds interest. I might try a version cropping out the perch on the left which would also reduce the softer areas of the image. I'm hoping to get some Mankwe images processed tomorrow.