Burchell's Sandgrouse (male )

[Arno Ellmer]

These sandgrouse literally 'explode' from the water surface after a brief sip of water . They arrive in large flocks mid morning and drink daily.
Image created at a small water pan in the Northern Cape , South Africa , during September 2012
Canon 1D X
500 mm
f/7.1
1/2500
ISO 1000
Shot from a car.

cropped to vertical

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent Pose and light, good exposure control.

[gail bisson]

This is superb!
Great comp and IQ and love the trailing water.
Light is great.
I would dodge the dark band intersecting the bird to reduce its impact.
A really fantastic shot,
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Excellent. Quick trigger finger to catch him before he was out of view. Great water trail, pose, light. Very nicely done.

[Marina Scarr]

Great action/behavior captured here. The water splash and wings up position adds so much. I think I would lower the brightness just a tad if it were mine.

[Nancy Bell]

Wow, this is an awesome capture! Very good that you were able to isolate one bird from the usually frantic flock. Great details on the bird and that water splash is fantastic! Gail has a good suggestion about that dark band in the bkgd.

[dankearl]

Excellent timing and really nice IQ.

[Randy Stout]

Arno:

Perfect timing here, really does look like he was shot out of the water. I love the circling drops around the feet, sharpness.

The tip of the far wing looks a bit smeared, perhaps just DOF/motion.

If you have it, I think showing the complete exist splash (bit more below) would be nice, and I might take a sliver off the top, because of the diagonal flight path.

Cheers

Randy

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent take off pose.Love the pose with wings up,open beak,great colors,lights and lovely environmental BG.

Regards,
Satish.

[Karl Egressy]

Great dynamic image, Arno. Love the pose and colours.

[Robert Holguin]

Terrific shot!!
Excellent timing, love the pose and water trail. Excellent comp too.
Well done.

[PhilCook]

It's a brilliant image, nothing I can think of improving on, sharp, full of life and excellent timing

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Arno, very well timed, and love the trailing exit splash. Light looks good, as do the colours. Sharpness spot on too. Great angle shooting from the car.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Wow! Stunning capture. Great timing, colors, and exposure ---- the trifecta! Thanks for sharing!

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent dynamic take off with sharp details and perfect light

[Arno Ellmer]

Thank you all for the very constructive comments and suggestions.Always appreciated.