Two of a kind

[Stu Bowie]

Bee -eaters are very busy birds. They never keep their heads still, always looking out for passing prey, and then taking off without any warning. In this, I waited patiently for both to look the same way. Taken in the Pilanesberg National Park back in April when they came to visit. The BG is a distant OOF mountain.

Neatened up the catchlights in pp work.

Canon 50D
100-400 @350mm
1/2000
F/7.1
ISO 640

Exp comp 0
hand held

[Jack Breakfast]

That light is dazzling and is quickly making me insane! Such detail and beauty! What birds! And how about that double catchlight? Stellar perch and background! So much to admire...

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent pose details and nice BG nice perch too.

[Peter Scholer]

Simply stunning. What beautiful birds and to have two captured to this excellent standard is truly masterful. Well done.

[Frank Schauf]

Exellent image quality, great details, sharpness and light.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot!! Wonderful background, great perch, love the poses, and excellent detail.
Very well done.

[PhilCook]

Stunning pair, and love those earthy colors in the backdrop, catchlight in each birds eye as well.no nit pics from me, just envy.

[Brendan Dozier]

Very nice, Stuart! Wonderful color, details, BG, and excellent image quality as usual from you.

[gail bisson]

This is lovely Stuart! The earth tone colors of the BG really set off the birds.
Pretty perch. Lovely light.
In a perfect world there would have been more light on the far birds' tail.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Lovely birds, BG, interesting curved perch, light, all good. Good point from Gail on tail, but on balance, very fine capture.

Cheers

Randy

[jack williamson]

Beautiful birds beautifully photographed. Love the old snag and the bg as well.

Jack

[Dudley Watson]

Excellent detail and colours... you could not ask for a better perch Well done Stuart

[Jim Crosswell]

Great image Stuart! I like the perch, poses, colours, composition, IQ and BG.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Absolutely lovely, Stu. I like everything about this!
Your collection of KFs and bee-eaters would make a nice book!

[Sachin Saraf]

Excellent capture Stu...you captured these two beautifully...near bird does not look as sharp as the far one (may be it's only me) but I still love this for the way perch leads eye in to image.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the kind words.

With regards to the lightening of the far tail, I agree its a touch dark, but I have infact already lightened it, and didnt want to make it unnatural. I will have another look and see if I can better it.

[Joe Senzatimore]

This is a killer image. Sweet light makes this for me.

[Dave Leroy]

Very pretty birds with amazing colors. Lovely photo with two birds in focus with poses, perch and bg to match. Very well done.

[Rachel Hollander]

Stuart - your patience paid off big time. Stunning image.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely pose, angle, perch, colors, BG and light. I frankly don't think there's much hope of getting more details out of the tail without washing it out. This perch has so much character and those birds really pop against the BG.

[Doug Brown]

Awesome frame! Great color, sweet light, and nice perch. Fortunate to get both birds in sharp focus.

[christopher galeski]

Beautiful image Stuart,everthing bang on,excellent.well done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very nice image Stuart. I agree about the tail, but all else is just fantastic!!

[Grace Scalzo]

Beautiful Stuart. Love the light, sharpness, and interesting perch.