My 300VR was sold last week and I have a new 500VR on order but, until the arrival of th enew lens I have a borrowed 500VR of a friend (it is great to have good friends :p) and this morning I went to try the lens with the bee-eaters. They were not very cooperative and it has been not possible to take a decent image of one perched but lots of nice flights that makes me very happy. This year, in the bee-eaters sand bank there are about three to four pairs of rollers that are visiting the old holes in th esearch for one to breed in. Very early in the morning this guy was inspecting a couple of holes in the shadows so I went up to ISO 500 and got some decent images instead of the fact that the bird was not at eye level but I am happy with this one. I decided to remove the 1,4XTC to include in the frame the holes to show the nesting habitat. I took some frames of courtship behaviour in flight. By the way, they are not breeding yet.
Some white dropings removed with clone tool
Comments and critics are appreciated ;)
Nikon D300, AFS Nikkor 500VR, ISO500, f5,6, 1/320 VR on, hide, WHII on tripod, full frame
Last edited by Juan Aragonés; 05-31-2009 at 11:04 AM.
Great find and beautiful bird. I like the eye contact and soft light and am wondering if a wider crop that would include the entire hole on the right would make it even better.
Very good point Axel. I agree that including both holes is much better. Fortunately, the next frame in the series has both holes but I do not like the eye so I made a composition with both images and added a touch of increased contrast to the back of the roller and to the sand bank that I like most. Very good eye Axel :-)
Juan, amazing colour captured on the roller, and a great contrast between the blue, and the lighter colour of the sand. Sharp, with good detail, and the overall light and exposure is great.