Spotless Crake

Spotless Crake photographed at a drying waterhole on an overcast day. I was also in the mud under a kwikcamo blind.

Canon 40D, EF500 + 1.4 tc, tripod, 580EX + bb, fec -1 2/3, ISO800, 1/200, f/5.6, spot metering, full frame, a couple of distractions cloned out.

An amazing photograph. Perfect body and head angle, love the leaning forward pose, and what a bird. Could use a bit of a contrast boost. And I forgot sharp!

This is great Simon. Well worth getting muddy for. No nits. :) Forgot to add that these are a little bit hard to find as they are rather secretive.

Cool-looking bird, I don't think I've seen this species before, thanks! Great angle, details and soft light. I might remove the catchlight in this case, just a personal preference. Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful, I've never seen one so thanks for the post.

Marvelous detail in the feathers and the red eye adds a great accent of colour. The crakes are impossible photographic subjects which really adds to the cachet of this beautiful image.

Hi Simon.
Nice spotless! Well done.

Tony

Great effort Simon, well worth a little mud. really like the low angle here.

Very well done Simon!! Just an all around appealing photograph to view :-)

Top work Simon...these little buggers are hard to get at times. Well done.

Excellent capture Simon. Nice pose and detail. Worth getting dirty.

Thank you everyone for your comments. Here is a version with increased contrast per Artie's feedback.

Never seen this species photographed before :eek:
Very nice image. Love the sharp eye.

Szimi