HAMERKOP

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Had never heard or seen this bird before . Found it very unusal , esp the head ...maybe the reason for its name . Predominantly a bird which is found around water bodies .
Shot this at Lake Naivasha , Kenya , from a boat . The boatman was so eager to take us near the bird , that no amount of making him understand the concept of MFD helped :bg3:. Guess he was showing off :eek3:.

Camera : Canon 1D Mk III
Lens : 600 mm f4 IS
Aperture : f 7.1
Shutters : 1/750
Speed : ISO 400

Cheers,
RAkesh

[Troy Lim]

Like the BG, composition...wish you have stopped down to get it sharper.

[Ron Sprunger]

Ditto on DOF, but the eye and beak are perfect, and the softness at the back of head and neck seem to me to add to the portrait feel of the image. I like it a lot.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Yeah , would have loved to stop down , but shooting handheld from the boat , I did not want to risk stopping down further .

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot of a very interesting looking bird. Lovely background and I too agree with a bit dof but still a superb shot. Well done.

[Tom Redd]

Interesting head on this guy, appropriately named. Love the BG and sharp where it needs to be. Very nice.

[gail bisson]

I love this bird. Great comp, BG and pose. I too wish for more DOF but still a lovelly shot,
Gail

[Stu Bowie]

Great close up Rakesh, so hopefully you thanked your boatman :w3 I would maybe tone down the BG a touch. Yep, Hamerkop translates to Hammer head, as so clearly shown by the shape of his head.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great composition, I love the diagonal created by the downward tilted head. Nice BG too (what looks like a small sensor dust spot needs to be eliminated above the head). I normally don't mind where DOF falls if the eye is sharp, but I agree that a portrait like this would have benefitted from more DOF, especially the lower cheek and neck in this case. ISO 800 and f/10 with the same SS would have helped. Well done though, I like the image alot!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Rakesh, very nice. loved the BG and the bird of course. Very good composition....which can be tricky in tight shots. agree with Daniel...with a pro body, you should not hesitate to shoot at higher ISO :-)

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto all the pluses above. For the repost: pulled the curve down. Bill clean-up. Contrast mask (15/65/0) on the bird but for the area around the eye. Then sharpened the bird at about 160/.3.

[Doug Brown]

Cool looking bird! Artie's repost is a definite improvement. I would definitely have bumped the ISO to help get things a little sharper.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Rakesh! I like the composition and BG. The repost brings out the potential of this image.

[Craig Brelsford]

Artie's repost is a major improvement on an already compelling image. I agree with what others are saying about DOF. I was under the impression that the Mark III can easily handle ISOs well above 400. (I'd like someone to confirm that; I'm a Nikon man, but I'm interested in Canon.)

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Brilliant on the repost , Artie ....thanx a lot for that .
Craig: I have shot with Mk III @ 3200 consistently with very good results . In India , I always , shoot at around ISO 2000 . It is a wonderful machine .

In Kenya , the light was so nice that I wanted to shoot as close to the native ISO as possible , just so that I get maximum information as far as colour went .

[Arthur Morris]

YAW Bhai. Mon pleasir.