Magpie Shrike female

[Bill Dix]

Yet another from the Okavango Delta. I might have preferred a bit of space between tail and perch, but chose not to do any surgery on the perch.

D500, Sigma 150-600C @ 600mm, ISO 1250, 1/4000 (hoping she would fly) @ f/6.3 manual, HH.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Bill, seems you got your feet, well and truly wet, immersing yourself in the Okavango Delta, it's a great location and especially for 'Birders' in and around this location.

Personally I think your choice in not applying any 'surgery' was the right decision/course of action. Like the 'rustic' perch and also the transitional backdrop, but perhaps a tad less 'smoothing' (but personal choice). I'm just wondering if it could do with just a hint more exposure, say a third of a stop, and perhaps to make more of those saturated colours in the lower half, just adds that little bit of OOF.

Hope you get a chance to go back, it's a cracking location for sure.

TFS
Steve

[Alex Becker]

Really cool tail, perch, and pose. I also agree that leaving the perch as is was the right thing here, as it has a ton of character. I also think slightly less NR on the BG would help, but as Steve said all personal choice. Looks like you had a great trip with a lot of nice shots. TFS

[gail bisson]

I think you have been saving your best pictures for last!
I really like the perch. And the wind blown white feathers are sweet!
Great HA and love the pop of colors in the bottom half of frame. I like the BG as is.
I think you could brighten the image a bit- either through exposure or brightness,
Gail

[John Mack]

Love that tail. Nice pose on the bird. At first i thought the perch was too big but the more i look the more i like it.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Bill, beautiful bird, wonderful perch, nice background. On my display the image appears just a tad dark. I you are of that mind the protruding perch near the tail can easily be shortened in photoshop. Thank you for sharing.

[Glenn Pure]

Bill, you've reminded me about some shots of these that I have. I did find them very hard to photograph not least because of the difficulty of handling the extremes of tone on them and the fact that I found them rather wary birds. Your 600mm has again helped there. Perch looks great in this one and glad you didn't do any 'surgery' and also excellent background but its darker tones have made it harder for the bird to 'pop'. I'd be tempted to lift the overall exposure on this (but mask out the white on the bird first leaving that untouched).

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all. Here's a version that's a little brighter.

[David Salem]

Very cool subject and just as cool of a capture Bill. Looks great to me and love that green BG too. The repost look better and clearer. Well done