Bathing Carmine

[Brendon Cremer]

Shot at the breeding colonies along the banks of the zambezi river, Kalizo, Namibia. The carmines would come down off the banks in the afternoon to bath and have a drink, we spent an entire afternoon photographing them as they literally dived into the river one after another.

• Camera NIKON D3S
• Focal Length 850mm (600 + 1.4x)
• Shutter Speed 1/3200 sec
• Aperture f/7.1
• ISO/Film 1400

[girisholeti]

Shooting angle, light, wing position all are very good. Water drops are adding a lot to the image. Overall a fantastic image.

[gail bisson]

Brendon,
This shot is absolutely amazing! I have spent lots of time ( trying to) photographing these speedsters and can appreciate how difficult a shot this is to capture.
Excellent IQ, love the splash,wing spread and tack sharp.
This gets my vote for IOW!
Excellent, excellent, excellent!
My only suggestion would be to get rid of the brownish discoloration near the tip of the far wing,
Gail
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

What a dramatic shot, great timing super details and excellent light, a real gem - congratulations this has real impact.

[Melissa Groo]

How exhilarating even just to view this, I can't imagine what a thrill to have captured it. Just splendid action captured beautifully. Awesome work.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great light and space. Splash and pose take it over the top...Nice one bud!

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Brendon -

This is a stunner! Your timing here is impecable, and the focus is spot on.

If you have the IQ, I'd love to see a crop without the water - although I really like this composition as it's more story-telling.

Miguel

[Rachel Hollander]

Brendon - fantastic shot and timing. Comp works beautifully. Agree with Gail about brown area by wing.

TFS,
Rachel

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the composition, and to me the water is as important as the subject in this frame. Instead of cloning out the "blobs" at bottom I may actually crop to right above them. Great pose, colours. I know it is small and perhaps hard to see, but I would be tempted to halve the catchlight by removing the top half of it...it makes it look like there is a tiny bit of subject movement in the eye (IMO). Great work!

[Robert Holguin]

Stunning image!!!
Excellent comp, love the pose and water splash.
Lovely light and get IQ.
Very well done.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Killer action Brendon, love the watersplash and the birds pose. I also enjoy the extra space, works nicely.

[Lyle Gruby]

Agree with above, spectacular shot!

[Brendon Cremer]

Thanks very much for all you comments and advice, much appreciated

[Loi Nguyen]

Brendon, this is a stunning image. Love the colors, the water droplets and splash, and the composition.

[Ivan Ellison]

Lovely behaviour to capture- right place right time- and a lot of patience . You have got it all right here, exposure, angle of bird , sharpness- everything, well done

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Super cool shot. Great timing. Love the curve of the bird and the water drops and waves