Cape Vulture in Shadow

[Mark Dumbleton]

After a long absence on BPN, I have made my return. It's good to be back!

I captured this image this past weekend at the Vulture Hide in the Giants Castle Reserve in the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa.

Nikon D3s | 600 f4 VR + 1.4x | ISO 1800 | f6.3 | 1/2000sec

© 2011 Mark Dumbleton Photography. Image protected under copyright law.
www.markdumbleton.com

[Munish Kaushik]

Beautiful landing pose !!! Its just perfect for my taste. May be a bit more light on the eye...

Regards,
Munish Kaushik
www.facebook.com/kaushik.munish
www.seenwild.com

[Dudley Watson]

Well captured and welcome back. I presume this was taken in late afternoon with sun behind bird?
Still have your old D3 and very happy with it.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Mark, been off into the country have you :w3 The vulture is well placed in the frame, with a good landing posture. I like the colour of the BG, not the norm that we see from GC. Hope you got lots of keepers, and that the weather was good to you. Cheers.

[Troy Lim]

Too bad the bird seems like it was in the shade. Love the BG color but it overpowers the bird IMO.

[John Guastella]

Lovely, dramatic landing pose. I agree with Troy - the bird seems diminished by the bright BG. Also, there are some bright blotches to the left of the bird which are quite distracting.

John

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great IQ and pose..Sounds like Giants was good to you...Good to see you posting again bud!

[Dave Leroy]

A very dynamic landing pose and very well timed.

I also like the idea of lighting up the area around the head/eye.

Interesting comment about the light being behind the bird. If so exposure is extremely well done.
Also interesting how the bg is so nice and warm and bird is cool. Light angle again I suppose.

Lots of detail in the wings.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Dave

[Daniel Cadieux]

Welcome back!!

I like the pose and BG colour but I agree with Troy about it overpowering the subject. For me I would have preferred lots of flash used to lighten the vulture. Although I know the blue cast is caused by shade I still find it quite strong. Sharp, and I like the mean look on the face!

[Mark Dumbleton]

Thanks for the great feedback folks. The image was captured early morning, with the bird still in the shade, and the mountain lit up from the sun.

These birds land about 50m away from where we were sitting, and I would have loved to use flash, but probably would not have had an effect because of the distance.