White-Throated Swallow

[Stu Bowie]

I visited the Pilanesberg National Park last saturday hoping to stock up with some Kingfisher shots, but they were not around. I thought the next best thing would be trying my hand at some swallow take off shots. Here is one where he didnt take off away from me. The BG is water. Taken early morning.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300 F/2.8 +1.4 TC = 420mm
1/3200
F/6.3
ISO 800

Exp comp +0.33
Hand held

[Binu John]

Wonderful take off shot, Stu! Excellent wing position and exposure. The blue BG compliments the subject well. TFS

[William Dickson]

Lovely image Stuart, tack sharp and lovely exposure, well done

[keith mitchell]

Stuart excellent shot of this bird that can't have been easy to get, will be interesting to see if everyone like the perch left in the picture, I looked a while and decided I do.
I love the sheen on the bird and it stands out very well against that nice bg.

Cheers Keith.

[Ian Wilson]

Good work Stuart. The light looks harsh even though it seems low angle but you have managed it well. It would be tempting to remove the perch but I agree with Keith that it is better to leave it in. It helps to understand the action. Regards, Ian

[Stu Bowie]

The light looks harsh even though it seems low angle but you have managed it well.

Thanks Ian. This was shot at 7.16am, so not that harsh, even at this location. Africa is a hard place.

Thanks everyone else for your feedback.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the wing position, take off pose and composition. Nice image Stuart.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image of spectacular take off. Great IQ. Rest as usual super.
Love the frame, Stuart Sir.

Regards,
Satish.

[David Salem]

Great looking take off shot Stuart. Love the wing position and the HA looks great too. The techs look good overall and the sheen on the feathers adds to the shot. This is one of those take off shots where you could remove the perch and it would look ok too, kinda looks like its flying by because the legs are not hanging down. Great either way. Well done

[Stu Bowie]

Here's a version without the perch ( removed with patch tool, and cleaned up with the clone stamp) and some taken off the RHS, so as not to place the swallow too central.

[Tom van den Brandt]

Great action caught Stuart. I like the second one better, I think the perch didn't add much to the frame.

Tom

[Daniel Cadieux]

I liked the perch showing when first viewing the image and I was going to suggest to keep it in....but I must admit I prefer it gone now that I see it (or don't see it!). Pretty neat pose. Did you need to clone something between the primaries? There is a faint blue spot between the second and third...

[Stu Bowie]

Did you need to clone something between the primaries? There is a faint blue spot between the second and third...

Thanks Dan. Nothing needed to be done on the BG, apart from removing the perch in the repost. I do see that spot though. I find if I over selectively sharpen an area, I get a funny artifact - that could be it.

[Marina Scarr]

I am not sure I have a preference on frames. Love that wing position. If the perch were smaller on the first frame, I think that would be my favorite.

[shane shacaluga]

Nice dive-bomb shot. Good techs to freeze this fast moving bird, nail the focus and to expose darks and whites nicely.

Out of the 2 images I prefer the first one

TFS

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Well done. I had the same thoughts about the perch. Like both images. I might do a compromise, with a bit cropped off the right of the original, and perhaps tone down the brightness and contrast of the perch just a little to reduce its impact.

Cheers

Randy

[gail bisson]

Great image Stuart.
I like both but have to echo Daniel's sentiments exactly.
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like both shots, my instinct tells be to tone the perch down and see what that does.

[Stu Bowie]

perhaps tone down the brightness and contrast of the perch just a little to reduce its impact.

Hi Randy. Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it out and it works well.

Thanks a stack to everyone else for your feedback. Always appreciated.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Stu , a very nice dynamic image , well done all around . For me the perch has to stay as it is part of the story . The pose of the swallow does look odd without the perch , think what Randy said about toning down the perch would work nicely .

Great image , TFS Andreas