African snipe - take off

[Richard Flack]

African or Ethiopian Snipe

Image was a little softer than I hoped but these snipes are not the easiest to catch in flight, so I still enjoyed the image. Look forward to your comments.

Location: Marievale Bird Sanctuary, Nigel, South Africa
Date taken: 04 October 2013
Photo details:
Canon EOS 7D
400mm f2.8
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/5000
F-stop 4
Exposure bias -0.3
30% crop, NR on BG, brightness and vibrancy, Sharpening

[christopher galeski]

well timed,as you say snipe are not easy to capture inflight,I would be happy with this,BG is a bit distracting,but it is there habitat,love the watery mud behind the bird,nice flight pose,would maybe give a bit more room above,for the bird to fly in to.

[Rick Bowers]

Great action shot on a tough group to capture in flight. Love the trailing water!

[Tim King]

Tough shot. Nicely done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good reflex here by yourself to get it on take off. I love the snipe and the water/mud splash...way cool! The water at bottom is neat too. BG is distracting, perhaps you could tone down the bright reeds. There is a large processing artifact behind the subject that needs to be worked on.