Merlin

[Binu John]

1DX + 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4X
f/7.1, 1/2000, ISO 1600
All C&C welcome.

[William Dickson]

Lovely looking photograph Binu. Everything seems perfect to me. The bird, the BG, the perch and a great HA. It has it all. Very nice indeed and thanks for sharing this.

Did you use DPP or Adobe?

[keith mitchell]

Binu I'm with William on this,it really is superb.

Keith.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot great pose/exposure/colours - how big is the crop, I am missing detail in the plumage.

[Bill Dix]

Wonderfully dynamic pose, really capturing the spirit of the bird.

[Binu John]

Thanks for the comments, gentlemen!

Hi William, I've used DPP for RAW conversion and PS for the rest of the processing.

Lovely looking photograph Binu. Everything seems perfect to me. The bird, the BG, the perch and a great HA. It has it all. Very nice indeed and thanks for sharing this.

Hi Jonathan, Thanks for pointing that out. I took this shot around noon on a cloudy day. Also, I didn't sharpen the image as much as I usually do after resizing. Maybe it's the light angle and my failed processing. Here is the full-frame image.

Did you use DPP or Adobe?

Lovely shot great pose/exposure/colours - how big is the crop, I am missing detail in the plumage.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent pose and love the BG. the detail is sure excellent but it can get better with proper processing in DPP.

well done

[dankearl]

It looks like it could fly out of the screen...
Excellent.

[David Salem]

Man, I would be thrilled to have gotten a frame like this of an adult male Columbarius Merlin. He is perfect and is probably a few years old judging by his slate grey back, his rusty pants and his orange feet that they don't get until a few years old.
How flipping fortunate you were to be that close to a merlin like this and get it in a take off pose, it's even on a great perch and not a post! Fantastic capture Binu

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Dynamic pose, beautiful color pallet, perch and nice composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[shane shacaluga]

Great image. Pose perch and BG are all wonderful

TFS

[Ivan Sjögren]

Lovely shot! Killer pose, the eye contact is there together with the raised wings in perfect sharpness. Beutiful perch and bg too. I Think the first post is a bit tight but that's my personal taste

[Joe Subolefsky]

Super shot great detail,perch and pose.Wishing it was mine.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Binu, what an unusual pose, but it works for me. Love the light and overall colours, and I do like your smooth BG.

[Ivan Ellison]

Enough said, Great image, everything went well for you and I know luck doesn't come into it- time and patience are always there but in this case lady luck really was with you. Would love to get this close to a wild merlin they are very few and far between near me and often only a flash as they hurtle past. Well done Binu.

[Simon Wantling]

All been said really. A stunning image.

[Binu John]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting!

[Mike Poole]

Another admirer here - lovely image with a great take off pose