Silverbird

[Katie Rupp]

This beautiful little bird belongs to the flycatcher family and the image was taken in Tanzania in Serengeti NP. C&C encouraged and greatly appreciated.

Canon 1dm3; f5.6, 1/1000; ISO 1000; 1-400 @400

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

This is nice, Katie. Placement of bird is superb and although small, details are there to be seen. well done. Very unique.

[RichardCurtin]

Very nice image. Like the wing position and sharpness (focus and thorns). Believe this would also be good as a vertical image placing the bird in the upper right third and cropping out the grey area at the lower right which is somewhat distracting. This would still include enough of the thorn bush to balance the bird.

[Katie Rupp]

Very nice image. Like the wing position and sharpness (focus and thorns). Believe this would also be good as a vertical image placing the bird in the upper right third and cropping out the grey area at the lower right which is somewhat distracting. This would still include enough of the thorn bush to balance the bird.

Thank you, Richard. Cropping/composition was a question for me as I also wanted to lose the lower right corner and I ended up this way since this is already a significant crop and I thought I needed to keep as much detail as possible.

[Ignacio Yufera]

This is one of those images to which the thumbnail does no justice at all! Sharpness and detail are surprisingly good, and I like the comp although I agree that a vertical crop would improve it.

BTW, a beautiful bird that for some reason is rarely photographed. It's an Albertine Rift endemic, but I don't think it's rare in its range. Congrats.

[Bill Dix]

Nice little bird, Katie (thanks Ignacio for the ID). Good wing and head position, and I like the thorny habitat. I agree, though, that the dark LRC is distracting. I'd be tempted to crop a bit from the bottom and then clone out what's left of the visible dark spot; or try the vert as suggested.

[Katie Rupp]

Here is a vertical crop as suggested...is this better? I would have liked to include more of the Acacia tree.

[Bill Dix]

That's lovely, Katie. I like it better.

[RichardCurtin]

I agree. Believe that looks better. The thorn bush adds interest - hope the bird had good landing skills...

[Christopher Marek]

Thank you, Richard. Cropping/composition was a question for me as I also wanted to lose the lower right corner and I ended up this way since this is already a significant crop and I thought I needed to keep as much detail as possible.


I like everything about this photograph. Very well executed. Its another high key shot like the one Daniel Cadieux did in his recent post 'Snow Geese gliding in, in high key'. I didn't know this technique could work so well. I didn't have high hopes with either thumbnail so a very wonderful surprise. Very very artistic. I played around with your image. You could easily deal with the dark area in the LRC.

[Katie Rupp]

I like everything about this photograph. Very well executed. Its another high key shot like the one Daniel Cadieux did in his recent post 'Snow Geese gliding in, in high key'. I didn't know this technique could work so well. I didn't have high hopes with either thumbnail so a very wonderful surprise. Very very artistic. I played around with your image. You could easily deal with the dark area in the LRC.

Thanks for your kind words, Christopher and I like your adjustment...took me a minute to figure it out, it certainly works.

[Ken Watkins]

What a beautiful bird, considering the size ( 11cm) and distance you have done remarkably well to retain so much detail. I like your repost best.

According to my borrowed copy of Birds of East Africa, I think this is a Grey-headed Silverbill.

[Katie Rupp]

What a beautiful bird, considering the size ( 11cm) and distance you have done remarkably well to retain so much detail. I like your repost best.

According to my borrowed copy of Birds of East Africa, I think this is a Grey-headed Silverbill.

Thank you, Ken. This trip was my first time to see this bird and my guide identified it as a Silverbird (Empidornis semipartitus)...I looked it up in my copy of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to African Wildlife and the discription fits quite well. That said, I'm a total novice at this so hopefully someone can correctly identify this bird.

[Doug Brown]

Impressive detail for a bird occupying such a small portion of the frame. I think I like the vertical crop better. Good talking to you last night!