Red-Bearded Bee Eater

[Phil Liew]

This is a female Red-Bearded Bee Eater with the red fore-crown (male is pink all the way).

More often than not these are found in deep jungle and getting a "perfect shot" with a clean smooth bg is not always an option. I like this shot because of the eye contact and the sunlight coming through canopy cover gives it a nice sheen.

I have presented this in square format to give it a little bit more space to the left. The leaves on the foreground whilst obscuring part of the bird maybe distracting to some but I find it lends itself to making the picture complete as to the habitat of the specie. I would like to know what others feel.

Thanks for looking!

1D MkIII + EF600 mm + 1.4II ext
1/250s f/8.0 iso200 Av priority Evaluative metering.

[Romy Ocon]

A very colorful bird nicely captured, Phil! Yes, it's tough to get a clean BG/FG when shooting in the jungle. :)

A traditional 2:3 or 3:4 portrait format with a little bit off the right and much off the left would be interesting to try on this one.

Romy