Narcissus Flycatcher Female

[Phil Liew]

This was caught in failing light around 1830 hrs under heavy canopy cover. For this one it was an hour's wait in the middle of a stream before she showed.

5D Mk2 + EF800mm (1/25s f/5.6 ISO1600 EV +2.0 Fill flash -1 rear curtain)

[Juan Aragonés]

Hi Phil the low angle, head turn and eye contact are very good but I would prefer more isolation between the bird and the busy BG. The bird is very centered to my taste but the eye has a lot of life and I like it a lot. Keep them coming :-)

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Phil

You can minimize the bg clutter by cropping tighter, even at the bottom would take a little bit !!

Some funky flash settings !!! Not sure why would you use rear curtain but it didn't hurt. The exposure worked fine but seems a lot of positive comp for the bg Looking forward to many more !!!

[Phil Liew]

Thanks for your comments.

I'll re-crop tighter and post again.

Alfred - I used rear curtain as the light was failing to get better illumination of the BG as I use minimal fill flash to "brush" the feather details. Otherwise it would appear a typical flashed photo that I do no really like at all.

[Arthur Morris]

Is this a natural pool or one that you created yourself?

[Phil Liew]

Ok guys here's the re-cropped version. I found that I have to do it more like a "pano" crop otherwise there would not be enough space to the left. This tighter crop does alleviate the noisy BG.



Artie - This is all natural. We do not have the luxury of creating pools in these parts as the wild life are getting away from the built up areas. Moreover, with the illegal traders catching all these birds at times we do not even post where the pictures were taken.

We cleared the calm part of this stream of leaves etc but in a jungle leaves keep falling hence the ones behind the bird and in front. It was worth the wait sitting midstream (only a foot or so deep) waiting for this one in the early evening. By the time we had finished it was already dark.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info Phil. I see that you are using the new 800--that four stop IS is amazing. How is the noise at higher ISOs with the 5D MII?

Lastly, I would remove the tiny branch behind the bird with a QM.