Ant-eating Chat

[Stu Bowie]

Its been a while since Ive posted due to no internet connection, and a bit of too much work. Here is an Ant-eating Chat captured in the nature reserve close to where I live. It was taken early morning, and its not often I get a subject perched on such a thin perch. The BG is naturally OOF grass.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +2 X TC = 600mm
1/1600
F/6.3
ISO 640

Hand held from the car.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart

Nice pose, catchlight, eye. Complimentary colors, soft background.

Cheers

Randy

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - This works quite well with beautiful light and great detail. Nice bg too. Glad you've got internet again.

TFS,
Rachel

[David Salem]

Glad your'e back on line, we missed you. Beautiful details, nice BG, great eye contact and a thin perch make this a real keeper. Well done Stu

[Isaac Grant]

Great pose and background. Details look great. And a species of much interest to me as well. The only critique I have is that I would crop differently. The perch is not parallel to the camera so much of it is out of focus. The bottom part, especially the part with the dried grass sticking out does not add much to the frame for me. Bird seems a bit too high in the frame to me as well. If mine I would crop from the bottom to about where the dried grass intersects the perch and then clone out any remaining parts of that dried grass that may be there. Then I would add some canvas to the top. Personal preference of course.

[John Whaley]

It is a beautiful capture. Tack focus, detail, a clear eye and perfect bokeh.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback everyone. Although I quite like my subjects perched high in the frame, I do like Isaac's suggestion too. Here is what Im sure he had in mind.

[keith mitchell]

Stu not sure which to go for I think the OP as a more natural look as apposed to Isaac's which does look a tad clinical,the bird and the bg look excellent with super feather detail.

Keith.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot Stu great light and details- original for me most certainly - agree with Keith.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Stu, Great shot, amazing detail, I now understand what you mean about the lighting of the eye and pupil, like both edits.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like somewhere in between the two! I love the upright posture - was the light perch swaying up and down with the bird correcting its balance on it? Great light and BG.