Carmine Bee - Eater

[Stu Bowie]

I was so pleased to have seen these Carmine Bee - Eaters in the Kruger Park, and this was my first opportunity to have photographed them. The BG was a distant mountain, and I liked how some of the colours complimented the BE. Taken late afternoon, and keeping watch on the time, as I was quite far from our Camp, and if the gates close you are left outside. Well I'm not sure about that, and I wasnt going to find out.

Inspired by Bill's recent images of his Carmine's from Botswana.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +1.4 TC = 420mm
1/1600
F/6.3
ISO 800

Hand Held from my car.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

What a gem this is, Stu. Love the warmth of the light, and complimentary BG. Outstanding detail in all the feather colors, and very nice head turn and eye contact. Like the long jagged perch as well as keeping the bird relatively small in the frame.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Nice Complementary Colors and Head Angle.

Everything looks good for me.

Thanks for sharing.

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful last light on this gorgeous bird. Great perch, and the background colors do work nicely with the Bee-eater. Nice pose with head turn, so show off his full range of color. You probably wouldn't want to be left to wander around Kruger outside the gates after dark. I've heard there are other kinds of "eaters" out there.

[gail bisson]

This is lovely Sty.
The light and BG are superb.
Love the perch and IQ.
Well done,
Gail

[annmpacheco]

Super Stu, love the HA, the BG, the perch, and how the colors all compliment. Well done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very nice light an appealingly rich colours. Smallish bird size in the frame works well.

[Glenn Pure]

I can't add to the other critique, Stu. Beautiful little bird, great background with complementary colours and great perch plus great IQ and detail.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the feedback. Always appreciated.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Glad you got to see and photograph these in Kruger. Love the complementary colors of the bg and the warm light. I thought there's a fine if you are late getting back to camp but they let you in

TFS,
Rachel

[Joseph Przybyla]

Striking image, Stu. All been said, nothing more to add. Thank you for sharing.

[Ian McLachlan]

Agree with all above.That light produced a rare gem .

[John Whaley]

Agree with the sentiments below. Beautiful light and colors. Beautiful image.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hey Stu, now that is a cracking image, great clarity & detail, nicely positioned in frame. Killer background that separates the subject very well indeed.

I think you could afford to loose some negative space above and reduce some contrast, shadows & blacks, the richer colours then start to come through more.

TFS
Steve

[David Salem]

Great looking image Stu and I really like the colors on this beautiful bird. Would love to see one in real life one day. The pose is just about perfect and the perch in background top this one off beautifully. I do like the lighter and tighter repost from Steve. Well done buddy.