Oto-Rhinologists at work

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

An AB image with oxpeckers funnily cleaning the nose and ear of this daga boy! The peculiar position of the peckers made me share this. Had posted a similar one where one OP was at the ear.
7D II
100-400 II
1/640
f/8
ISO 800

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Sanjeev,

Lovely capture and those cute red-billed oxpeckers add so much to this frame, great timing! I also like the title, very appropriate

Good framing, HA from the subject(s), nice choice of DoF too, dagga boy stands out beautifully against the BG.

Colours do look natural but I think you could extract a lot more detail, especially on the boss (horns), would love to see those textures come through.

I enjoyed this, not just interesting but also a behavioural frame, thank you so much for sharing:)

Kind regards,

[William Dickson]

Wow, this is so good. The bird peeking out over the nose is priceless. Nice and sharp with good DOF. The facial expression tells the story. Total enjoyment..

Will

[Glenn Pure]

I really enjoyed the surprise of seeing the oxpeckers when I opened this one Sanjeev. As Will notes, a great behaviour captured and almost humourous - especially the oxpecker peeking around the nose at you. I'd be inclined to select and work on the oxpecker on the ear a little as it looks slightly thin and lacking saturation. Otherwise, this looks very nice for detail and tone.

[Steve Kaluski]

A cracking image Sanjeev, lovely detail and the Ox P's are a nice addition. Being side on worked well, but I think you missed a trick, as you can get some more tonal range from the horn & crown creating some lovely depth and 3D look. Perhaps some additional sharping around the eye, FP looks a tad to the right of the eye. I know it was with the 7D but going to 1600 ISO would have helped get some more SS and frozen the whole head shot. It may have also needed some more DoF being that close to get detail in the nose/ear??? Like the fact you can see the 'bugs/flies' plaguing as always these animals.

I meant to say, perhaps b/W or a DuoTone could also work nicely here, as adding some warmth to the B/W may give it an edge?
TFS
Steve

[haseeb badar]

Hi Sanjeev -- Terrific details and sharpness here, loved the framing and the birds are indeed adding so much to the frame. Techs almost good , just lacking in ss IMO, but a great capture indeed . TFS !

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - I too like this, particularly the oxp peeking out from the other side. Good suggestions above to take this already nice image up a notch.

TFS,
Rachel