Still weeding out old files and came across this Spoonie from Ding Darling in 2017. He was preening in the shadows of the mangroves; a bit of bluish cast in the RAW file was probably natural, but it looked better after I warmed it up a bit. Full-frame.
D500, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 800, 1/800s @ f/6.3 manual, SB-700 fill @ +1.0 EV.
Pretty much perfect for me. All those colors pop off that BG and I love the meandering perch. Love the preening pose and you got enough eye for me. TFS
Just lovely. Feather detail is awesome, love the feather over the top of the bill. Dark background really does make the bird pop as David stated. Flash was well done. Very nice, TFS.
Bill, surely one of your very best, absolutely beautiful, the bird is superb, the perch is interesting and there is importantly (for me) a hint of detail in the background
Sharp with wonderful color and the preened feather in that bill is wonderful. Three things distract for me:
1- not much of a look at the eye.
2- the bird is -- for lack of a better word, ugly. And the shape does not help.
3- the merge of the curved part of the perch with the primaries and the tip of the tail.
with love, artie
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Thank you all for your comments. Much appreciated. Artie, I guess beauty is personal and subjective, so I won't ask what it is about the bird that you find "ugly". Personally I like the tension between the sweep of the primaries and the curve of the branch. Perhaps I could have taken out the tip of the tail and left just a tiny gap of space between primaries and perch.