Africa

[Stu Bowie]

This is typical Africa. Capturing the flight of a Grey Heron with distant animals in the BG. I captured this last year whilst parked alongside one of the larger dams close to Lower Sabie Camp in the Kruger National Park. The Giraffe was naturally OOF as it was fairly far from my car on the opposite side of the dam. I will be staying at this Camp from next week Wednesday for 5 days.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +1.4 tc = 420mm
1/2500
F/6.3
ISO 800

Hand held from my car.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Love the concept very good composition.
Stu did you apply NR to the background - it seems very soft compared to the highly contrasting heron - maybe the sharpening mask has hard edges? Also is the contrast on the heron just a tad high? I like the image very much but somehow it doesn't seem up to your very high standard to me

[Stu Bowie]

Stu did you apply NR to the background - it seems very soft compared to the highly contrasting heron - maybe the sharpening mask has hard edges? Also is the contrast on the heron just a tad high?

Thanks Jon. After reading your feedback, I can clearly see that there is far too much contrast on the Heron - why? I cant explain, as I hardly ever use contrast on any of my images. Looking at the Heron again, with the high contrast, it does seem like it has been ' pasted' onto the BG. Hmmmm ...... will have to revisit the entire image. Thanks again.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Love the comp. Agree with Jonathan on the contrast. Just shows the difference between us. I would be focused on the giraffe with the heron flying through out of focus.

TFS,
Rachel

[Karl Egressy]

Nice flight shot, Stuart. Love the background!!!

[Jack Breakfast]

Now there is a heron picture I won't see anywhere around these parts. Nicely done!

[Grace Scalzo]

Wonderful sense of place. The heron pops off the background beautifully and love that oof giraffe.

[keith mitchell]

Stuart fits the title, Africa all the way,the Heron really jumps out of the picture, works well for me.

Keith.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Always appreciated.

[David Salem]

Out of Africa is right Stuart. Great looking scene that belongs in national Geo. Your usual nice exposure and details rounds off this unique African bird scape. Well done.

[Kirk Benson]

This is what I call a "window into nature" and I like your composition a lot Stuart... what a beautiful scene.
It's already been addressed, but it's interesting to me how the BG colors look so warm while the Heron does not... it's still a great image and a real pleasure to view. Well done.

[Dvir Barkay]

Very nice, agree that it is a bit contrasty, other than that it is nice.