Adult Bearded Vulture

[Dave Barnes]

Bearded vulture banking in his natural environment.

Canon 1D mk3
Canon 500 f4
ISO 640
f5.6
SS 1/4000

[Ramon M. Casares]

Love the loose comp, great pose, light, pose, colors, BG and detail! Congratulations on a terrific image of a terrific bird!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like everything about this image, except for of how close the BG mountain edge is running along the front of the vulture. If this is from a burst perhaps you have a frame from just before that has better distance between those two elements?

[Stu Bowie]

Dave, great banking angle, and love the detail in this. Good exposure, sharp, and the vulture is separated from the BG nicely.

[Doug Brown]

I'm with Daniel on this one. For my eye, the bird is too close to the strong diagonal of the mountain. A little more separation would make for a better image IMO. The bird looks great though!

[Fabs Forns]

One millisecond before would have yielded a better composition, but it is still an impressive image with the inclusion of the terrain.

[Mark Dumbleton]

I like the inclusion of the environment here. Nice exposure - did the sky come out that blue in camera, or was the blue added later in PP. I only got white sky when I exposed for the bird. Super image here Dave - like it alot

[Chris van Rooyen]

Nice wider approach, like the mountain. Would prefer the bird slightly further forward, but still a great image!

[Chris Kotze]

Super flight angle well capture. I like the OOF mountain

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Good to see its habitat. Nice details on the subject.

Szimi

[Dave Barnes]

Thanks to all for looking and for comments.
Chris the next shot in the burst has the bird directly over the line of the mountain and does not look great. In the last shot he is turning away from the camera.
The shot below is the first in the burst and although the position in relation to the mountain is better (I think) the head position is possibly not as good?
All thoughts are welcome and thanks again to all for their input.

Mark the blue sky was not added in PP.

[Arthur Morris]

The 2nd one is better by light years in all regards. Super bird and sharp. Why better? With the bird back in the frame there is no confict between the bird and the diagonal cliff edge.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The repost definitely works much better compositionally. I like the details, eye contact and mountains in the BG.

[Tony Whitehead]

Love the escarpment in the BG. 2nd post addresses the issue in the first perfectly.

[Dave Barnes]

Thanks Arthur, Axel and Tony, your comments are appreciated.

[Kobus Tollig]

Ditto Artie. Second one much better. Well done on both.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Now that's what I'm talking about! Great repost that addresses my initial issue...fine work Dave!

[Dave Barnes]

Thanks Kobus and daniel, appreciated.