Dark-backed (Forest) Weaver

[Ian Wilson]

Captured on the Nibela Peninsula, KZN, South Africa, 28 March 2015. Removed a little foliage from beak and adjusted WB.

Canon 5DIII + 600 mm f/4 II + 1.4x III extender, 600EX-RT flash, hand-held.
Manual, spot metering , spot AF, f/7.1, 1/200 sec, ISO 500, 1/8 flash power.
Processed with DPP4 and PS Elements.

Thanks for looking, critical feedback welcome and appreciated. Regards,
Ian

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

To me, the comp appears a tad bottom heavy. What I mean is that I'd like a little more room below the bird. I think the diagonal leading lines across the image would allow a more centred comp in this case. That's my thoughts anyway.
Lovely sharp image, great HA and good details.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice pose, head angle and eye contact. Like the diagonal perch.

[gail bisson]

Agree with Akos.
I would clone out the vegetation in the RUC and I might increase the exposure by 1/3 of a stop.
I would also add a bit more room on the LHS to include the entire seed pods.
Excellent IQ and nice body position,
Gail

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks Gail, excellent suggestions, I like them all. When I get a spare moment I will rework the image. Warm regards, Ian

[Shawn Zierman]

Beautiful bird...First time I can recall seeing an image of one. Pretty dang sharp given the shutter speed and focal length used! The image does look a tad dark...are the peas a food source? If so, and they probably are, the image has an added natural history element that works....

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks Shawn. The bird was probing the spider nest comprising dead leaves and web that you can see in front of the beak. I have a couple more frames showing the bird with its beak buried in the spider nest but the head angle is not too good.
Thanks also to the other members who kindly left feedback on this image.
Regards, Ian