Carmine love

[Ignacio Yufera]

A pair of Northern Carmine Bee-eaters mating before the river waters recede and expose the cliffs on which they'll nest, Senegal.
Taken from a small boat on fast current, that branch couldn't be avoided.

Canon 1D MKIII, Canon 800 f/5.6, 1/500 @ f/7.1, ISO 400

[Don Lacy]

Hi Ignacio, Beautiful birds and a nice BG but the OOF branch cutting the birds in half ruins the image for me drawing my eye away from the subject.

[Arthur Morris]

Ignacio, Ignacio, Ignacio, You did a great job with the birds--EXP, sharpness, head angles, all perfect. You had bad luck with the setting however. In addition to the large o-o-f branch, several others, especially those that come towards us are very distracting. A real bummer since the birds are so loverly and your techniques were spot on..... Thanks a ton for your membership support.

[Jory Griesman]

Agree with Artie (a high percentage choice ;)). Does anyone (especially Ignacio) think a tight vertical crop would yield something usable - taking advantage of the beautifully exposed/sharp birds, and excluding the branches?

[Arthur Morris]

That would help with the stuff on the right.... But.