David and Goliath

[Dvir Barkay]

I wish that the King Bird was closer, but this was an interesting fight and I wanted to show that. The Great Egret came into the Kingbirds territory, and a fight ensued. This shot is from when they first came to meet each other. The King Bird was persistent, and fast. But the Egret was patient, and after about 5-7 minutes of conflict, the Kingbird backed off. It was a difficult exposure for sure, and I had to compromise a bit.

1DmrkIII, Canon 300/2.8 with x1.4TC, F/7.1, ISO 400, Manual, 2014, John Heinz Wildlife Refuge

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Very moody image, Dvir. I like it a lot. The exposure on the egret is nice and I'm enjoying the backlit effect on the king bird. The splash of water, the pose with the open beak all add to the drama. I like this a lot (including the fact that the kingbird isn't too close)

[Dvir Barkay]

Very moody image, Dvir. I like it a lot. The exposure on the egret is nice and I'm enjoying the backlit effect on the king bird. The splash of water, the pose with the open beak all add to the drama. I like this a lot (including the fact that the kingbird isn't too close)

Thank you so much Sidharth, glad you like it. I enjoy the backlight because it does indeed add a bit of drama. Maybe a bit more light on the darker portion of the Kingbird would have helped, but this is one of those scenes were the dynamic range is very large, and I didn't want to blow out the highlights of the Egret.

[Marina Scarr]

This is quite a unique image. It has a lot of interest and tells a pretty cool story. Love the splash by the egret. Yes I wish the birds were closer to one another, but it still works. The lit wings on the incoming bird are fabulous.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Artistically speaking it would be very easy to place the kingbird closer to the heron. Neat encounter and natural history image for sure with interesting lighting. I do wish the algae line did not cross behind the egret's face.

[Dvir Barkay]

Artistically speaking it would be very easy to place the kingbird closer to the heron. Neat encounter and natural history image for sure with interesting lighting. I do wish the algae line did not cross behind the egret's face.

Thank you all for the reply.

Daniel, do you mean by selecting the pixels of the bird and moving them closer to the egret? I have never done something like that, not good at the whole cloning out/extending canvases part. So how would you do it? Yeah I too wish that algae wasn't as prominent.