White Throated Swallow's

[Stu Bowie]

I went to visit my good mate Gerrie in the Pilanesberg nature reserve yesterday. My favourite subjects, Pied Kingfisher's were not to abundant, but there was plenty of 'action' from the swallows. Here is one of many different angles/positions that captured their 'action'. The BG is OOF water and grass.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 250mm
1/3200
F/6.3
ISO 640

Exp Comp +0.33
Hand held from a hide

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Striking pose by the back bird, well exposed despite the harsh light.
I like the framing.
I have rather mixed feelings about the upper background. I generally am not a fan of pure sky backgrounds, like some environmental anchor when possible, but not sure if it is a plus here. I suspect you were shooting from a hide, so couldn't really change your shooting angle much.

Sounds like you had some serious fun.

Cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

You handled the lighting well, and got a great pose from both birds. I particularly like the crop. I might tone down the perch a little, and I agree with Randy's observation about the vegetation in the BG.

[Sid Garige]

Stuart,

Stunning image. Fantastic pose, light and details.

IMO too much blue is kind of pushing the greens out. I tried to crop it close to reduce the blue and achieve balance in between greens and blues in the background. See if it works.

[Steve Canuel]

Great timing Stuart. A nice symmetrical wing spread by the top bird and I like how the angle of the female kind of completes the missing portion of the perch. The color up top doesn't bother me as it looks like the male is holding back the color with his spread wings.

[Aidan Briggs]

Wow!! This is great Stuart!! Though I love the original , the repost is even better. The perfect poses, sharpness, and exposure makes this one!

Well done

[Hendri Venter]

What a cool image mate. Lovely pose from the one in the back.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback and commments. Always appreciated.

Sid, thanks for showing me what can be done. Your repost works well. I have others with all blue BG, and some with all green BG. :)

[denise ippolito]

Stuart, Beautiful capture. I love the poses and all the details. Sids repost looks good.:)

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack Denise.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Stuart been away and missed this one but glad to have picked it up, even if late. I think the spread wing posture of the rear bird is awesome and makes for a very dramatic image. The techs have allready been covered above. Well captured.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack Pieter.