Motmot

[Dvir Barkay]

A local Motmot, they are rather common in the Yucatan but they are rather difficult to photograph properly as they love to tease, allowing you to get close and then when you finally think you have a nice angle they fly off. (Wish I could go to F/9 or F/10 and get the tail feathers in focus as well but the light was not kind)

1DIII, Canon 300/2.8 L IS with x1.4TCII, F/4.5, ISO 800, 1/320, (Removed a nagging branch that was a bit distracting in the top left corner), Chichen Itza in Mexico, 2015

[keith mitchell]

Agree these can be difficult David have tried a few myself, the slightly oof tail does not spoil this for menace bird and shot.

Keith.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Dvir I doubt very much if you would get the tail feathers in focus from that angle and at that distance. looks like you had some tricky lighting there, a striking bird and difficult subject so well done for getting it. Ideally the light would have been also on the chest/belly and a slight head turn to the lens would have given even more impact.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dvir a stunning bird you captured . Nice detail and colors , just the intersection with the tail feathers /head are a bit distracting , but nothing you can do afterwards , so no big deal.

TFS Andreas

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful bird, nicely shown. Thank you for sharing, Dvir.

[William Dickson]

Great capture Dvir. Lovely bird in a natural looking BG Well done

Will

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Dvir!

A striking avian image and the colours are superb. Those OOF tail feathers do not bother me one bit - on the contrary, I prefer them this way - if it wasn't so, everything situated in the same focal plane would be also sharp, not desirable IMO).

Happy with this image as is, sharp where it matters and what a lovely alert pose, well seen and captured, good framing, nice detail - lovely work, I enjoyed viewing, keep them coming, Dvir

Kind regards,

[Robert Kimbrell]

Well done Dvir, Looks like a challenging shot, But nicely presented here. A beautiful bird, well aced and sized in the frame. A good head turn and a clean look at the tail feathers. Well done.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I wish you had a slightly better head angle. However, from what you say, these guys may be a little jumpy. It is sharp where it has to be as mentioned. What a lovely bird!

One key thing you didn't mention is what was your shutter speed.
I've mostly used a 1DMkIII for the last two and a half years and will not hesitate to shoot even ISO 3200. However, at that ISO NR is usually a requirement, I think I can get away without it with good exposure (to the right with histogram) technique without any NR usually at ISO 1600, unless I have many many very dark tones.

Here is a sample from my 1DMkIII using ISO 1600 cropped to 100% and I am happy, but I am not as anal as a lot of folks and can accept this. WDYT?
http://amatteroflight.com/gallery2/d...rcent-crop.jpg

[Dvir Barkay]

I wish you had a slightly better head angle. However, from what you say, these guys may be a little jumpy. It is sharp where it has to be as mentioned. What a lovely bird!

One key thing you didn't mention is what was your shutter speed.
I've mostly used a 1DMkIII for the last two and a half years and will not hesitate to shoot even ISO 3200. However, at that ISO NR is usually a requirement, I think I can get away without it with good exposure (to the right with histogram) technique without any NR usually at ISO 1600, unless I have many many very dark tones.

Here is a sample from my 1DMkIII using ISO 1600 cropped to 100% and I am happy, but I am not as anal as a lot of folks and can accept this. WDYT?
http://amatteroflight.com/gallery2/d...rcent-crop.jpg

Yeah, the shutter speed was 1/320, I do agree that the 1DIII takes high ISo rather well and I don't shy away from ISO1600 though I try my best to keep it as low as Ican.