Favorite for 2015. FEMALE CRIMSON CHAT

[Ian McLachlan]

For the first time in 10 years we have Crimson Chats on our family's sheep property in Western New South Wales and many breeding.So it was nice to capture a bit of action as we won't know when they will be back.This lady was feeding her young in the late afternoon last month in a secret nest somewhere nearby.They always nest in the blue bush in this part of the outback .She has just departed the bit on the right.

.iso2000
f5.6
1/4000th
840mm
hh from land cruiser.

[Karl Egressy]

Great moment captured in beautiful colors.

[Arthur Morris]

Wow! Wow! Wow! What a pose. And the feet are killer. Beautiful BKGR. Not to mention great bird. You might try running Filter/Blur/Surface Blur on the BKGR only as it looks a bit lumpy towards the top of the frame. What camera body? Was AF active at the moment of exposure or did you pre-focus and fire? a

[Grace Scalzo]

Beautiful bird, pose, food morsel, background, and colors. I feel that the perch is rather small within the frame, do you by chance have a way of including more of it without ruining the comp?

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Nice moment with food in its bill, sharp, beautiful colors all over against a perfect BG. The eye contact is a bonus. The composition works well too. A winner in my books!

[Ian McLachlan]

Thanks all for comments and suggestions.
Arthur. 1dx rear focus (thanks to you,) on bird's eye then try to guess moment and direction of take off. As they are 4.5 inches long and are looking every which way for predictors and lightening quick, it ain't easy. If guess take off time and direction right ,only get one image in the frame, even with the 1dx. If I get more than one image in the frame then I'm too far away and lose detail in the crop. So the bird has to stay in the same plane. This bird was about 3ft outside minimum focus for the 600 f4 plus 1.4. Am I missing something?

Will put a bit more perch in when I get back to computer in 5 or six days time thanks Grace.

thanks again for any advice on how to jag these little ones in flight

Ian

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all for comments and suggestions. Arthur. 1dx rear focus (thanks to you,) on bird's eye then try to guess moment and direction of take off. As they are 4.5 inches long and are looking every which way for predictors and lightening quick, it ain't easy. If guess take off time and direction right ,only get one image in the frame, even with the 1dx. If I get more than one image in the frame then I'm too far away and lose detail in the crop. So the bird has to stay in the same plane. This bird was about 3ft outside minimum focus for the 600 f4 plus 1.4. Am I missing something?

thanks again for any advice on how to jag these little ones in flight

Ian

You did great and missed nothing. Just to confirm, you do not attempt to re-focus manually--is that correct? I ask because the eye is so sharp in spite of the fact that the bird seems to be maybe an inch on this side of the perch.... a

[Lorant Voros]

Wow, this is just awesome! Winner for sure. There is some noise in the top part of the BG, maybe something to deal with. What a shot! Fantastic, Ian.

[Mike Poole]

Top class shot. No nits from me at all, great pose, techs spot on.

Mike

[Robert Kimbrell]

Wow stunner image, Great job with the focus. A beautiful background will be even better with a little noise reduction as suggested.