Whitefronted Bee-Eaters

[Morkel Erasmus]

I have just returned from leading a photo safari on the Chobe river which lies between Botswana and Namibia. It's a birding paradise (when you aren't distracted by elephants or hippos playing in the river next to your boat, haha). Using a dedicated specialised photographic boat, we were able to get very close to a number of mammals and birds. This colony of WFBE's were feeding their young who were ensconced in the riverbank. We were able to pull up the boat in such a way to get them side-on as they approached the nesting holes. Light was a challenge in the morning as the bank lies in the shade most of the morning.

This is a crop from horizontal, with some taken off top and bottom as well. Do you think the other bird adds interest or should I crop it out for a horizontal of the hovering bird?

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
1.4x teleconverter
f5.6 | 1/1600 SS | ISO-2500

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Morkel,

What a treat to capture this image. You got the wing spread, the tail spread, the head angle, the slightly open beak, the colors ... !!!!

The bird alone would be a strong image. I've looked at this a bit both ways, with and without the top subject. I like it both ways.

Just glad you kept this one in color for us :)

Miguel

[Holger Leyrer]

What for a colorful bird. Perfect timing to capture the WFBE. The bird alone works very good, too. I like both.

[keith mitchell]

Morkel, that is a striking looking bird with super colours,like the way it is cropped but would prefer it without the oof bird.

[gail bisson]

You have captured a great pose.
I would definitely crop out the OOF bird.
Gail

[dankearl]

Another vote to remove the OOF bird.

[John Stuelpnagel]

Nice image. I too would crop out the oof bird (and raise up the primary subject).

[Randy Stout]

Morkel:

The crop depends on two things for me. What story are you trying to tell, and do you have enough pixels on the lower bird to tolerate the crop? 12mp to start with, lost sig. amount with current crop, will you be happy with IQ if cropped down to just showing the bottom bird? For web, probably fine, depends on your end use.

Sounds like a great outing, will have to share more as time allows.

Cheers

Randy

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the dancing pose and the colors, the OOF bird doesn't add much and it's a distraction IMO, I would crop it out and focus on the lower one if IQ holds

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks folks. I will post a single crop of the flying bird in this thread tonight, but Randy touched on it for me - I wanted to tell the story of the birds bringing food to their chicks ensconced in the riverbank. Perhaps if the OOF bird was looking our way it would be a stronger and more palpable message/story...

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Mork, this is not easy, as I know how fast these guys are in flight. Great capture of the incoming BE, and he has shown off his wingspread and tail nicely. The colours are spot on, and stand out very well against the wall of the river bank. I feel a horizontal would work better too. Still, well captured.

[Troy Lim]

Cropping the OOF work would just be another BIF image. With the top bird in the frame, it tells more of a story. I like it as is.

[Craig Brelsford]

Other crops may work, but who wouldn't like this choice, with the OOF bird providing context?