Pin Tailed Whydah Take off

[Stu Bowie]

I just love going back to old files to see what I can save, and make something out of it. In this, I have extended the canvas on the RHS, as when I shot this, the Pin Tailed Whydah didnt have any space to fly into. It had just taken off from the flower on the left. The BG is natural OOF grassland and flowers. Captured in overcast conditions. This is actually the next frame of the image that won me IOTW way back in January last year. http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/57621

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/1600
F/5.6
ISO 800

Exp Comp +0.33
Hand held

[Dave Leroy]

Another lovely image from the series Stuart.

Wing position is perfect and i really like the composition. The few simple things seem just the right size and place in the frame.

A very elegant looking bird and extremely well photo'd.

Dave

[Melissa Groo]

Wow, that's sensational, Stuart! Great moment captured, wonderful focus, beautiful BG. I like the way the plant anchors the scene.

[Humberto Ramos]

Nice capture, I was trying to shoot some european-bee-eater's in flight this weekend and it´s not easy at all. I would try to sharp the birs a little...

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

I think long tailed birds are difficult to handle from a compositional standpoint. because your framing options are limited by trying to fit the tail. I would consider just a smidge less canvas on the right to balance out the plant and bird a bit. If you have a chance, could you post the image before you added the canvas, just curious how it looks.

Great wing position, colors of bg go well with plant. In a perfect world, would prefer the tail not intersect with plant, but again, that long tail is a real challenge.


Cheers

Randy

[Levina de Ruijter]

Amazing looking bird. Randy is spot on with his remarks on that long tail. That's difficult to shoot and compose. I also think a reduction of canvas in front of the bird would work better. At least a browser crop suggests so. I think it would make for a better balanced composition. But other than that: a well executed shot and lovely image.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback everyone.

Randy, here is the unedited RAW file. Just reduced to 1024 wide.

[Tom Redd]

Stuart, great shot and like like the modifications that you made in the OP.

[Don Lacy]

Stuart Really like what you did with this one I know it most have taken some time to clone in the extended canvas.

[Arno Ellmer]

Super shot ,Stu !
All has been said . I like your creativity ,comparing raw to final image.Wing position and eye contact superb.

[Mike Tracy]

I always think when I see a post of one of these they are the coolest birds around. Lovely background and I like the red beak. The catch light might be a little too prominent judging from the raw file.

[Stu Bowie]

Stuart Really like what you did with this one I know it most have taken some time to clone in the extended canvas.

Thanks Don. I actually experimented a little with the canvas. Its quite easy with content aware in CS5.:w3 Instead of extending the canvas in one go, I extended it in small increments of three. It was fairly quick.

Thanks all for the kind words and feedback. Always appreciated.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Thanks for the repost. You have done well on the OP. I would still go with slightly less canvas to the right than the OP.

Thanks for showing the original.

Cheers

Randy

[denise ippolito]

Stuart, Nice work on the OP and I agree a small slice off the right-very small would be nice. Outstanding tail and wing position.:S3:

[Ofer Levy]

Beautiful pose and settings however, bird is too soft to be considered a keeper IMHO.

[D. Robert Franz]

The work you did was well concieved... Love this version

[RakeshDhareshwar]

One cool bird which you have captured eautifully . Like the way you cropped this one . Brilliant stuff !!

[Mark Dumbleton]

Excellent stuff Stu! Definately an image worth saving!

[yogesh_puranik]

superb work done on cropping and catchlight..nice use of perch

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the kind words and feedback. Much appreciated.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Greta image bud...You created a very nice image.